descend from the void- RWBY OC fanfiction
by ShurikenSean
Summary: on their way back to beacon team RWBY encounters 2 strangers. Blake is reluctant at first to trust them becuase of her past and their outlandish story. little does she know the impact they will have on her future. and their involvement in her closely guarded past. this is the story of my OC Infinity's adventures in RWBY (one of many) AU elements involving Blake and her backstory
1. prolugue

Infinity is a Character I've had long before RWBY. The basic idea for him is he travels between dimensions filling plot holes and helping people. So this story does involve interdimensional travel, but most of the story is set in the world of remnant. But to truly understand his story in remnant you must first know his origins beyond that.

Legends

Stories have been part of society since the development of language. From simply explaining to someone else what happened during the day to legends explaining how things in the world came to be. These early narratives were passed from generation to generation orally or put down in the form of illustration. Eventually writing was created and the stories were put down in pen and paper. Stories have also grown more complex as society has, not just writing down what has happened but what could happen or even what could never happen in the world we know. People's imagination crafted entirely new places, people, societies, and worlds. This has only grown as media has evolved, from the creation of the printing press, to telling story through pictures, film, and animation. There are thousands if not millions or billions of fictional series in the world today in whatever medium they take.

But what if these stories weren't just 'fiction' what if they were real in some form or another. The multiverse theory suggests that there could be an infinite Amount of alternate universes besides our own. Some could be just like ours while others could be entirely different. If the butterfly effect is true and something as simple as what you have for breakfast today can create a parallel universe what could coming up with an entire other world in your head do?

Any work of 'fiction' could exist in the form of another universe parallel to our own. Legends have always been said to have a bit of truth to them after all. They could have really happened but were lost to history or happened in another world entirely. Whether it was someone's imagination that created that universe or if the story of that universe somehow came to them in a dream is impossible to tell but those stories could really exist somewhere, somehow. Theories also exist of the possibility of traveling between these dimensions which could also explain how we would know about these different universes in the form of fiction. These are countless works of fiction about people traveling to different worlds or two or more worlds colliding in what is known as crossovers.

This is a story not of going from one world to another but one that is woven throughout the others. It takes places between the pages of paper book, throughout the lines of digital stories and hidden in the frames of moving pictures. This is the story of someone that wouldn't show up on a list of characters or be mentioned in any events but whose presence can be felt though the results of their actions. They travel off-screen of the major events of a story, working behind the scenes to make sure things go a certain way, filling in the blanks and helping from the darkness.

In the scheme of the multiverse this is the legend of a shadow, traveling through the void between dimensions

As with many legends things did not start out this way. They had to start somewhere originating from their own time and place. The story begins in a world not unlike our own, but like most parallel universe with something changed. In this world people began developing powers within a certain area. It was seeming random who got them and no one knew why it was happening. One of the first was a young boy who had been born with a slight brain injury that made his right side less sensitive and right hand unable to do dexterous things. He grew up adapting to do things differently mostly with his left hand. What he lacked in physical ability he made up for with an overactive imagination to come up with different ways to solve problems. The power he developed was based around this imagination. He was able to turn matter into other things he imagined, allowing him to make tools and technology of his own design. The saw his powers as a gift decided to use them to help people. Unfortunately not everyone that developed powers shared this ideal. Some decided to use their powers for their own gain and became villains. . The boy who had always admired heroes of fiction used his powers to create armor and weapons to counter those with powers and protect people. With his powers stemming from the infinite human imagination he gained the name "Infinity" Though these villains were few compared to most with powers who wanted to live a normal life the rest of society started seeing them as dangerous. Even those that used their powers for good like Infinity were seen as a threat. He was undeterred by this and instead imagined a world where those who had powers could live in peace with the rest of society. He formed friendships with others like him and they worked together to fight evil and protect the innocent. But while this battle of society raged another struggle was taking place. A strange substance began showing up in the same area that people were developing powers. This substance was dangerous to most but Infinity was able to use it as a catalyst for his transmutation so he began investigating into it so he could gather it up and keep it from hurting others. It led him and his friends to an ancient temple like structure underneath a nearby mountain that had been reactivated just before people began being born with powers. The temple for some reason reacted to Infinity's powers and a portal appeared in the center of the structure. It began to grow unstable and more rifts opened up all around the area, threatening to destroy everything. Unable to figure out how to deactivate the temple Infinity reasoned that since he activated the structure that to stop it he had to enter the strange portal, having no idea what would happen to him. He stepped through and the portal closed, no one knowing what became of him.

He woke up in another place having no idea where he was. He soon discovered he had been transported to another world entirely with no idea of how to get home. So he did what he had always done used his powers to adapt and helping people. Later another portal opened before him and he was transported to another world and so forth. Some of the universes he began recognizing as series he had read or seen and thus knew how things worked there and what happened down the line. He used this knowledge to help things move along as they should but also save as many lives as he could along the way. In each universe he gained new skills and more knowledge about the multiverse. He eventually ended up back in his own universe not long after he had disappeared, though it had been months for him. He continued to travel between different dimensions, having no control over the portals, just going with the flow of where the multiverse sent him. This is how his legend was made. He traveled to countless worlds, spending dozens of lifetimes because traveling through the portals messed up his physical timeline. He could come out as a child, how old he was in his own world (twenty's) or even an old man. I could describe his countless adventures but it would be like going though whole sections of libraries, and movie stores.

So instead I will describe key events of his journey.

When things changed.

The first was when an ancient evil was released from the cage it had been sealed away in for eons. It was a shapeless parasite that called itself Abyss. It would take over a powerful host to feed on its energy and then projected itself outward as a black inky substance. Its desire was to consume and would engulf the universe and beyond if it could. Infinity arrived when it was unleashed and tried to help the naive people fight it. Abyss sensed Infinity's power and attempted to take him over but Infinity's will was too strong and he was able to suppress Abyss, forcing him out. Infinity then tried to defeat Abyss but physical attacks did not work on him and he could regenerate from any part that was left of him. With no other options to deal with the parasite the natives used an ancient technique to seal Abyss inside Infinity who was the only one there to be able to suppress him. Infinity then had to carry the burden of Abyss wherever he went. If he lost control of his emotions or became too injured Abyss could take over and cause havoc until Infinity was able to suppress him again. Being that Infinity was his host Abyss did give Infinity increased healing to keep him alive but Infinity only saw Abyss as a burden that was his duty to control.

The next major event was when Infinity met a certain someone. Being hundreds of years old, as well as having to deal with abyss Infinity never thought he would meet someone he could fall in love with. But he then ended up in a world where there were beings that lived hundreds of years. He ended up in a universe similar to the 'Bleach' universe where Shinigami slayed evil spirits known as hollows. What differed from the normal bleach universe was instead of a separate "soul society" the spirit world existed parallel to the human world, certain parts being where sprits reside. The Shinigami were like a bridge between the two worlds, able to live in both. This is where he met a Shinigami Kunoichi named Yuzuki who was an alternate version to a character in the main Bleach, Yoruichi. Like in the main universe she has Purple hair, Yellow eyes and is a somewhat rogue Shinigami skilled in stealth and hand to hand combat. In this parallel world however she is also skilled cat burglar who steals for fun and a challenge. They met when she was assigned to teach him how to use his zanpakuto powers. He was already skilled in swordsmanship and hand to hand combat so they soon became training partners instead of teacher and student. Being the first man able to match her in hand to hand combat Yuzuki began to admire Infinity and they eventually fell in love. However when Abyss was released unexpectedly and Yuzuki hurt because of it Infinity left, thinking it better to not put her in further danger. Yuzuki goes after him, though terrified of what Abyss is but wanting answers from Infinity himself. When she eventually finds him he explains how he had to have Abyss sealed away inside him and she sees he was doing what he always does. Putting himself in harm's way to protect others. Yuzuki then begins occasionally travelling with Infinity, in a way helping him keep Abyss under control and becoming his lifelong companion.

And this brings us to the next major event in Infinity's story. As before it is when change happens.

Cages grow old and evil left to fester grows

Something was bound to break…


	2. Chapter 1: Broken In Transit

Chapter 1: Broken in transit

In a large city with skyscrapers that extend far into the sky two figures walk side by side down the night streets in a mostly deserted part of town. In the distance the night is lit up by lights of the skyline as is normal of a city at night but they are also accompanied by bright lines of color emitted above the buildings. A loud bang is heard seconds after the light streaks across the sky before another goes off. Between bursts the loud sounds of parties can be heard in the distance showing the lack of danger, the lights in the sky fireworks being set off to celebrate a nation's birthday. Contrast to the main part of the city the street the two walk on is mostly dark, everyone going to the party downtown to see the fireworks. The occasional glow in the sky outlines the two figures, for a brief moment revealing their features. The first is a man with short brown spiked hair in a purple t-shirt and jeans, his most notable feature being a horizontal 3 clawed scar on his right cheek. He looks down the dark street they walk glancing at whatever catches his eye but mostly just daydreaming. The second is a women with yellow eyes as bright as the lights she's looking up at in the night sky. A purple ponytail runs down the back of her orange shirt. Another flash of light reveals her sly smile and darker skin compared to the pale man's next to her.

After another boom she breaks the silence of the street with her strong yet beautiful voice. "Not quite as spectacular as the fireworks that were going off earlier really."

The male chuckles. "Well we were a lot closer to the other ones after all and the fact they weren't really planned added some flare." He gives her an accusing glance suggesting she had something to do with said fireworks.

She responds to his glance without even having to see it. "I mean it all worked out in the end didn't it, the ship was going to end up being destroyed anyway."

The man looks up at the sky as well now, remembering the earlier 'fireworks.' "Good thing it wasn't as big as the ones Will Smith and Engineer Dr. Malcom blew up."

She rolls her eyes at the reference. "You know no one but you gets those right?"

He casually shrugs and grins "Well I enjoy them, so…" another series of booms go off as he trails off. "At least bright explosions in the sky are a regular thing around this time. People probably just thought it was part of an early show."

Just then something down a side street catches his eye, causing him to stop. A purple glow begins to build in an otherwise dark alley.

"Well, Yuzuki, looks like our cab's just arrived. Guess with that last battle our job here is done.

Yuzuki looks and sees the familiar shape of one of the portals they travel though, purple energy spiraling around circular edge of the person sized rift. She looks back to Infinity and sighs, she had hoped they would have had a longer time before something else happened. There had been something she wanted to discuss with him later on.

Never knowing what would be on the other side Infinity changes into his standard light armored black and purple outfit with a flick of a button on his watch. A sword materializes horizontally on the back of his belt, the hilt where he could grab it with his left hand. A black cloak falling gently over his shoulders

He looks back at his wife who though with annoyance pressed the button to change back into her own combat outfit.

"Something wrong?" he asked

"No." she responded "was just hoping we'd get a chance to relax before we had to head off again."

"Sorry, you know I don't have control over these things." he said as he rubbed the back of his head with a gauntleted hand

"It's fine, let's just go" she said as she walked up next to him to go through the portal.

They stepped into the rift and were immediately met with the sensation of weightlessness as they began being pulled down the tube of purple light steaks and swirls that made up the walls of the stream between the universe they were just in and wherever they were going next. Used to the feeling after years of travel they both relatedly float as if they were standing as the current pulls them rapidly to their destination. Infinity looks back at Yuzuki who was looking off into space as if there was something on her mind. He was the one of the two that was known more for daydreaming so he didn't know what was up. He was sure shed bring it up with him whatever it was on her own time so he wasn't too worried.

The entrance of the portal they came through was now no longer visible behind them as continued down the highway like stream between dimensions. In a few moments the light of the exit portal can be seen growing bigger ahead of them.

"Any idea where we're going to end up this time?" Yuzuki asked lazily

Infinity could sometimes feel familiar energy if it had been a place he'd been before and once they were actually there his watch would have a readout if it was a place that was logged before.

"Doesn't seem too familiar" Infinity responded as he felt the energy from the approaching exit.

Another wave of energy hits him and something changes. He suddenly feels something not from the portal but from his gut. He clenches his chest as a stab of pain emirates from his core. His calm demeanor changes as his eyes open wide and he begins to gag. Yuzuki notices and snaps out of her daze and is about to ask what's up

Infinity feels a cold presence wash over him from the back of his mind as if somethings right behind him. A familiar distorted voice whispers in his ear "How long did you think you'd be able to keep me contained like this?"

Infinity sensed the black shadowy form of Abyss's head creep up over his shoulder. He could feel the glare of the Red triangular eyes stare into his soul and sharp black teeth forming an evil smile. All of this was just an illusion in Infinity's mind but it may as well been actually happening.

The pain in his gut increases and Infinity muttered under his breath "Why now?..."

In Infinity's mind plane Abyss looks down at him like a bear would look at a fox that just stole its fish, a scowl of disgust present even on his shapeless form of a face.

Infinity begins coughing painfully

"Did you think I'd just decompose in this worthless tomb while you did whatever you liked?

His expression changes to a sly toothed grin. "A cage won't last forever and I've been growing in power waiting for the right time to break free and put my plan into motion."

Yuzuki recognizes the signs of Infinity losing control of Abyss but usually it was only when he lost his temper or was gravely injured. Not like this "you ok?" she asks, concern in her voice

Another wave of pain pierces Infinity's gut, causing him to buckle over in pain as his coughing grows worse.

"Sean! What's wrong?!" Yuzuki screams

Her eyes fill with horror as black ink bursts out from Infinity's gut into the space of the portal. It rips through Infinity's chest armor, jetting towards the direction of the exit.

Infinity loses balance as his eyes become unfocused, his face growing pale, he tumbled head over heels in space unable to keep himself upright, the movement causing his cloak to wrap around front. The abyss ink continues through it, ripping the lower part to shreds, the tattered pieces getting caught in the stream.

Yuzuki goes to grab Infinity to stabilize him but is unsure how to help because nothing had ever happened like this before. Abyss was literally forcing his way through Infinity's gut from the inside out.

Yuzuki then felt something leave her as well, a piece of Abyss that had ended up in her when Infinity had to use his healing factor to save her. Unlike with infinity there wasn't a seal keeping it in so it left without creating any damage, following the other section of Abyss. It still felt weird and uncomfortable though. When the sensation passed Yuzuki was able to focus and went back to Infinity. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving. She shook him trying to get a response as they continued downstream towards the exit

"Hey. Can you hear me? Are you ok?"

No response.

"Sean. Wake up!"

She catches a glimpse of Abyss exiting the portal, the smaller part of him a few seconds later. Then her vision is engulfed in light as they exited as well.

Yuzuki opened her eyes and she was lying sideways on the ground. Her vision cleared and she saw the green of grass swaying in the breeze. The whole world sideways, the trucks of trees jutting out horizontally. She pulls herself upright and sees she's in the middle of a forest, the portal they just emerged from closing a few seconds later.

Then her heart sank. Infinity was lying face down on the ground next to her, unmoving. She immediately goes to roll him over and check his vitals. She could feel him breathing but just barely, his eyes still shut, his mouth hanging partially open. She looks for damage and gasps, finding Abyss's exit wound, a strange circular rip in his gut that looks plainly obvious that something had forced its way out from the inside. She goes to get a first aid kit from Infinity's backpack when he suddenly begins to stir, his fingers flexing and a painful groan escapes from his mouth

Yuzuki immediately goes to him "Sean. Can you hear me?!"

His eyelids twitch and then painfully open. His vision is blurred but he can make out the familiar face of his wife above him. The words escape from his mouth weakly "you ok?"

The yellow eyes looking down at him begin to fill with tears. "I'm the one that's supposed to be asking you that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" her voice horse and it was evident she was in destress. His vision and memory clears and he tries to force himself up but can barely make it a few inches. Yuzuki then holds him back down not wanting him to hurt himself further. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? You literally have a gaping hole in your chest!" her voiced filled with far more concern than actual anger.

Infinity tries to move his head to look around "Where's Abyss" he says with slightly more strength than he had before. While getting the bandages ready Yuzuki looks around, there wasn't another living thing in site.

"Long gone." She says apologetically

Infinity's hands clench into fists and his eyes and mouth close in a frown. He then relaxes allowing his eyes back open. He looks down and the hole Yuzuki was about to treat.

"Remind me not to get the space special next time…"

Yuzuki unintentionally lets out a small grin. "At least your sense of humor's still intact"

"Yeah." Infinity tries to force a smile but can't because of weight of the situation

Yuzuki then begins treating the wound, disinfecting it and then wrapping his torso with advanced gauze. She finishes and starts to put the rest of the supplies away.

"That's about all we can do for now, we'll need to get you to a doctor as soon as possible."

She wished she could do more, could really use someone from Squad 4 right about now. Or someone like that South Lady they had met that can do advanced treatments.

She looks down at battered body of Infinity, without Abyss's healing factor this was going to be a lot harder and take twice as long to heal if not more

"You think you'd be able to stand if you rested for a while here?" she asked

"It's not a matter of if I can move but having to" he immediately stirs and to Yuzuki amazement nearly makes it fully up before she has to prevent him from falling

"Don't push yourself!" she pleads, concerned.

"We can't just sit around when Abyss is out there" the urgency is evident in his voice, his concern for what Abyss could be doing giving him the strength to stand. They begin traveling through the forest in search of anything, Yuzuki holding Infinity's arm over her shoulder to keep him upright. After a few hours they come to a parting in the woods, a dirt road splitting the tree line. They begin following the road and eventually there's a group of four wooden carriages is spotted in the distance. When they get closer Yuzuki waves to get their attention and they stop next to them when they see the injured Infinity.

Yuzuki looks up at the head carriage driver "Do you know where the closest Doctor is? We need to see them as soon as possible." Her expression was strong but pleading

The man driving the cart with a tan moustache and beard looks down with concern in his eyes.

"We're heading to the town of Auburn about a days away. There should be a doctor that can help you there. Climb in back and we can be off."

"Thank you, you're a lifesaver" she bows graciously and carefully gets Infinity into the back of one of the carts. There's about 10 people traveling in the caravan total not counting the newcomers as well as afew dogs.

Later on in the journey the head cart driver that reveals his name to be Tanner notices Infinity's sword that's been tied to Infinity's backpack. "So are you Huntsmen that ended up biting off more than you can chew or what?

"Huntsmen?" Yuzuki asks

"You know, warriors that go out and slay creatures of Grimm. That wound of yours is from a Grimm attack isn't it? Bandits wouldn't do something like that."

Yuzuki was about to answer she didn't know what he meant but Infinity who was resting with his head on her lap suddenly pipes in.

"We've traveled from very far away. We had lived in an isolated area before we had to leave. This land is new to us and we don't know much about it. That thing must have been a Grimm that attacked Me." he lied

Tanner still seems somewhat surprised but believes him. "Yea if it was a big black creature that looked like an animal but was pitch black with while scales and red eyes then it was a Grimm. Don't know of any place that wouldn't have them. They've been around forever but guess there could be isolated places if it's hard to get to."

Infinity's heart skipped a beat at a familiar description besides the white scales. Yuzuki tried to calm him down and convince him it couldn't possibly be Abyss was here that long. She lowers her voice so only Infinity can hear.

"He only made it through the portal a few seconds before us, these creatures couldn't possibly be the same."

"A few seconds could translate into years when it comes to going from one universe to another." He exhales, trying to calm down. "But your right it couldn't be hundreds of years, only a few years at the most." He looks down glumly. "Still too long for him to be roaming free."

Yuzuki tries to console him. "Don't worry, we'll get you healed and then find Abyss and put a stop to him."

"I'm just glad you're at least glad you're ok." Infinity says. He closes his eyes and tries to get some sleep. It was getting late.

Infinity wakes up and he's met by the warmth of soft covers on his chest and a firm mattress beneath him. He attempts to move and is immediately met with aches and pains throughout his body making him stop. He sighs as he remembers the situation he's in, feeling the bandages wrapped around his torso with his hand. He looks to his side and spots Yuzuki asleep in a chair beside his bed. The situation would be a lot worse if she hadn't been with him at the time. He looks around and sees plain wood planked walls and soft light. Looks like he was in a hospital of some sort. After a while Yuzuki begins to stir, immediately wide awake when she sees Infinity's up.

"You slept through the whole journey, made me have to endure their folk tales all by myself."

"Sorry about that." Infinity replies chuckling, conscious to her trying to bring humor to an unfavorable situation.

There's a knock on the door and a man in white coat with thinning hair almost as pale as his wardrobe steps in.

"I see our patient has finally woken up, not surprised you were out so long with an injury like that. I'm Dr. Ivern, I'll be taking care of you during your stay here."

Infinity forces a grin despite the situation he's in "nice to meet you Doctor, I'm sure my wife's introduced me as Sean."

"Yes, Mrs. Murasakino has told me all about your situation, you're a lucky man to have such a capable huntress by your side. Not many survive a Grimm attack such as this."

"Tell me something I don't know." Infinity said, grinning at the women next to him. Like where that name came from he thought.

"Well I can tell you you're going to have to get comfortable where you are, you won't be able to move much for the next few weeks." Dr. Ivern replied.

Infinity sighed, he knew he wasn't going to make any miraculous recovery like he usually did.

"I can always pass the time with reading." He says, considering he has to learn about the world they've ended up in.

The Doctor smiles at the positive attitude. "Ah, yes. There's actually quite the library further in town. It's a huge stone building with tall pillars, you couldn't miss it." He said, more directed towards Yuzuki than Infinity. "Now I have a few other patients that I also need to attend to, but do call if you need anything." He shuts the door, leaving the two alone.

Infinity looks at Yuzuki questionably, obviously wondering about the name the doctor just used

"Ok, listen. Nearly everyone we've met so far has had a color related name, figured it would help us blend in." replying to his gaze.

"It's just usually I'm the one coming up with names." Infinity says, chuckling.

"You take way too long" Yuzuki replies bluntly. "We usually just need something simple buy you overthink everything."

"But going off your hair color seems almost too simple." Say Infinity

"You're the one that wears nothing but purple and black" Yuzuki replies slyly.

"Touché…" Infinity lowers his hand in defeat.

Yuzuki gives a smug grin of victory. "Now Mr. Murasakino I'm going to go take a walk and get you those boring reading materials you always want. Will you be ok here by yourself?" emphasizing his new name.

"Yeah." Infinity replies somewhat solemnly. "And thanks… for everything… I know you put up with more of my bullshit than you should…"

Yuzuki looks back at him from the door, she gives a warm smile. "Hey, I married you for a reason didn't I. I admit I do enjoy your weirdness every once in a while." She chuckles. "We're going to get through this. Together, as always." She blows a kiss and is off.

Infinity smiles and looks back up at the ceiling to get some rest. He really didn't know where he'd be without her.

Yuzuki makes her way further into town, she spots some larger buildings further in, including a clock tower and the building with pillars the doctor had mentioned.

She knew she had to stay positive for Sean, he had enough to worry about with the present situation without also having to worry about her. What she wanted to talk to him about back in the city could wait for a better time.

As she made her way farther into town she started to realize the section she was in looked different from the rest. Yes most of the building in the town were plain because this was the countryside but these looked run down, unkempt and boarded up to keep from falling apart. She looked like she was in some sort of slums. Most of the people she saw had ragged clothes and little belongings. Another thing she notices was most of them had interesting features, different types of antlers, horns, various animal ears or tails. She ran her hand through the side of her hair, suddenly more aware of the cat ears hidden under the tuffs on the side of her head. She wondered if every place was like this or it was just a coincidence these people were also the ones that were poor but she feared the worse. She'd seen plenty of cases in her travels where groups were discriminated against for no good reason. She spots a few children with animal features playing around. It must be hard for them, growing up in these conditions. Maybe it was better that… no. she stopped, removing her hand from her stomach. That wasn't a nice thought. She quickens her pace a little. On the way out she spots a group of kids playing with a blue ball. Both Faunus and human. At least the kids always seem to get it, she thought.

Yuzuki finally made it into the main part of town. The doctor was right the library was huge. At least three stories tall with huge pillars out front. The stone masonry looked like it had been worn down over hundreds of years but had stood the test of time. She walks inside the huge front doors and the inside was just as impressive. Huge stain glass windows shined light on hundreds of shelves of books lining the walls and in neat isles throughout the building, with sections with chairs and tables to read in the middle of the building. It wasn't until then that Yuzuki realized there was a problem. She had no idea where to start! She wondered aimlessly around the building having no idea which isle of books to look and which to skip. Infinity was always the one finding books and doing research, not her. The organization system they used was like none she had seen before, having no idea where to start to decipher the call numbers.

She muttered to herself out of annoyance as she looks through each section trying to find anything useful.

"Damn it, where am I going to find anything about this world, let alone information on Grimm and those huntsmen I keep hearing about."

"Um, do you need help?" Yuzuki heard a small voice say, she looked down and to her side and there was a young girl with yellow eyes looking up at her, carrying a few books. Small pointed cat ears poking out of her jet black hair.

"Actually yea I could if you'd be so kind." Yuzuki admitted, somewhat embarrassed.

"There should be stuff on travel up there on the second floor, huntsmen/huntresses would be in the job section over there and creatures/animals in the corner next to it." The young girl said, obviously familiar with the organization system.

Yuzuki crouched down so she was eye level with the girl and gave a warm smile

"Thank you sweetie that's a big help"

"Yo- you're welcome" the girl replied shyly, not as confident as she had been pointing out the different sections but still happy that she was able to help someone.

Yuzuki went off in the direction of one of the sections the girl and pointed out

A studious cat? She thought, now she had seen everything.

Yuzuki looked through the sections she needed, grabbing more general books, not knowing what to go for specifically. One thing she had found interesting was most of the weapon books she found were on weapon combinations, the prevailing theme being "it's also a gun."

The cat ears perk up on the young Faunus girl, catching noises off in the distance. Her eyes widen in fear as she hears the sounds of things breaking and yells.

Yuzuki looks up from the book shelf, her face now serious. Her own cat ears peeking out from her hair as she hears it as well.

She begins walking towards the exit, placing her stack of books down on the table the girl was sitting at.

"Mind looking after these for me?" she asks the girl, contusing to walk towards the exit

The girl is snapped out of her thoughts and looks at Yuzuki

"Whe- where are you going?" she asks Yuzuki.

Yuzuki looks back at her with serious look but with kind and confident eyes

"It sounds like someone needs help." She replies.

The girl is calmed by this somehow. Something about the way Yuzuki acted like everything would be fine.

The girl watches Yuzuki leave through the main door. Right before the door closes she sees Yuzuki disappear in a flash, surprising her. She looks down at the stack of books Yuzuki left, the top book being about hunters/huntresses.

Yuzuki jumps from rooftop to rooftop, quickly heading in the direction she heard the commotion from. She arrives at the outer part of town to see a battle going on, creatures of Grimm had broken through the wall of the town and were destroying property and attacking anyone they could find. Their description of black bodied with red eyes and bone armor fitting the description Tanner and the books had given. They did somewhat resemble Abyss but it was plainly obvious they were something different. The way they had white masks honestly made them look like the hollows from Yuzuki's own world. From her vantage point on the roof Yuzuki spotted a few people trying to drive off the grim, fighting with combination weapons. The first was a young man wielding a sword that seems to have fan contraptions on it, he slices through Grimm with fierce and decisive strikes. The next was a man with small gazelle horns. He used tonfas that had built in SMG's, twirling the weapons around and shooting everything round him, using his maneuverability to weave between enemies. A gun shot is heard to the side and Yuzuki spots a women with a marksmen rifle shooting from atop a flat roof next to a taller building. A Grimm jumps up behind her and she quickly spins around, the barrel of her rifle extending over the muzzle to become a handle and the butt of it expanded into a blunt club. She smacks the Grimm with great force up the side of its head, the creature flies sideways with her strike, the other side of its head slamming into the wall beside it, crushed between the two objects. The women reverts the weapon back into rifle mode and continues picking off targets below.

The group was doing well but they could use all the help they could get. Yuzuki leaps into the air towards the action. She lands on a Beowulf Grimm's head smashing it into the ground, instantly killing it. This gets the attention of other Grimm nearby, changing their focus to the new combatant. The people fighting notice as well, surprised by her sudden appearance. Yuzuki's expression is unchanged as she senses creatures charge her from all sides. A larger one slams its fists down where she was standing, sending up a cloud of dirt, it expands outward revealing she's long gone. Suddenly she emerges from the cloud to the creature's side, leaping towards the side of its head grabbing it midair and twisting it as she flies, snapping the creature's neck. She lands and two more charge her from either side. She expertly deflects the firsts attack with a glancing block and delivers a powerful punch to its chest, the other one that is now charging behind her she delivers a back kick to the side of its head. This sends both flying in either direction. Yuzuki continues to fight this way alongside the other, using nimble maneuvers to get around the Grimm and attack their weak points or brawling with them outright. Luckily for Yuzuki they didn't act too differently from Hollows so she didn't have to adapt her fighting style much. As the battle drags on more types of Grimm come into play. Yuzuki hears a loud snort behind her and there is large warthog-like Grimm with huge curved tusks. It scraps the ground with its hooves, getting ready to charge. Yuzuki simply calmly turns to face it. It rolls into a ball and rockets forward towards her at blinding speed.

Yuzuki gives her signature smirk, muttering under her breath "Too slow", sidestepping the attack and delivering a roundhouse kick to the beast's side, redirecting its forward momentum sideways and sending it tumbling though the side of a building. This surprises the other combatants, more so the fact she was doing this barehanded than sending enemies through buildings. She smiles at them as she calmly walks towards the hole in the building she just made, always enjoying a good completion. The Boarbatusk lay dazed on its side, unable to move, Yuzuki calmly walks up to it, noticing its unarmored underbelly. Yuzuki precisely jabs it in its exposed throat, killing it.

She walks back out into the street, she smiles and cracks her knuckles, having fun fighting the creatures. "Who's next?" she asks slyly.

Another Grimm starts charging towards her but is stopped in its tracks as a sudden rumbling is felt from the ground. Everyone else stops in their tracks trying perceive what's going on. Yuzuki's cool domineer drops as she starts to get a bad felling.

Suddenly the ground splits where a Grimm is standing, a black oily tendril bursting up from below and grabbing the Grimm, pulling it underground.

More rumbling ensues, stronger than the last.

"Get back!" Yuzuki yells as the ground splits further open, she leaps upwards as a mass of black goop bursts from the opening underground. She lands on a roof and watches as the mass continues to build, becoming the size of a two story building. It then starts to take form, tendrils slithering out of its back and huge clawed arms form out of shoulders. Lastly a head forms at the top, two horns jutting backwards from the back of its head. Two red eyes in the shape of triangles open and a huge mouth gaps open, the inside glowing red and the outside lined with sharp teeth like excursions made of the same black substance. Yuzuki's eyes opened wide, her pupils shrinking. There was no mistaking that form. It was Abyss. A wave of fear aura expanded outward from the beast, making everyone stop in their tracks. This wasn't normal fear, it was some kind of aura that the creature secreted around it. One could literally feel it in the air. Even the bravest of warriors couldn't resist its effects. The fighters grow unfocused, one even lowering their weapon. Some of citizens that had stayed to watch even fall to their knees, taking the worst of it. After years of dealing with Abyss Yuzuki was used to this feeling but could resist its effects entirely, a bead of sweat falling down her face. She notices the effects on the other fighters. She calls out to them. "You have to fight it! Don't let the fear take hold." They snap out of it, readying weapons, their fighting instincts helping to resist it.

The creature suddenly stirs, taking notice of Yuzuki's outburst and turning towards her. Yuzuki's heart skips a beat as its glowing eyes turn to stare into her soul, at the same height as Yuzuki on the top of a two story roof the ends of its mouth turning up in a smile, as if it recognizes her. This wasn't good.

The creature thrusts its head back and snaps open its mouth, letting out a ghastly screech that shatters windows and breaks moral. Its fear aura expands as far as the roar can be heard.

Infinity eye's fling open, sensing something horrendous

Yuzuki tries to hold her own against the wave of aura, every fiber of her being telling her to run but she holds her ground.

The beast's arm lurches forward, huge claws slashing towards Yuzuki.

She snaps out of the trance and charges forward on the roof towards Abyss. Normal attacks weren't going to work on it, she'd have to use her more powerful technique. She leaps upwards to take Abyss head on, bring up her arms to strike. "Shunk-" she yells but is cut off as she doesn't feel the usual energy that flows onto her shoulders and arms. Something was wrong. She couldn't draw upon her usual power, there must be something she has to learn in this world to use it. But it was too late to think of that now. Abyss's palm connects with Yuzuki midair, sending her flying into a nearby window.

This snaps the other warriors out of the aura's effects. They take aim at Abyss, letting out a fury of gunfire and sword slashes but to no effect, the bullets were absorbed, the slashes passing right through.

The female rifleman continues to fire despite this, taking aim at Abyss' head and eyes.

It turns toward her swing its arm horizontal towards her in an arc. She dives through the window of the building beside her but the arm continues through the wall, following her. She desperately runs from one room to the next seen through the windows, Abyss's arm simply continues sideways, smashing through wall, window, door and anything else that's in its way. The women dives out of the other side of the building, the blow forcing her to fall to the ground. As Abyss's arm exits the other side of the building that side of the top half of the building crashes downwards, caving in. the warriors retreat, trying to avoid the falling building and having no way to fight the creature. Abyss lets out another roar, pleased at the destruction it's caused. It then towards something low to the ground. Two kids playing with a blue ball. Easy prey… its huge arm crashes downwards, intending to crush the children frozen in fear. All they can do is look up in despair

Suddenly a huge thump is heard, the arm that had just been descending towards its victims falling short and flopping to the ground, its seethered end halfway up the upper arm burning with a form of purple energy. The kids look up and they're shadowed by a cloaked figure with a tattered cape over his back. The creature buckles back in pain, the shoulder where the arm had been flailing. The huntsmen that had been retreating stop and look in awe. The figure is earing damaged purple armor, circular hole ripped through the gut area of the outfit, fabric ripped outward. Revealing medical bandages underneath. He holds a black and purple katana in his left hand, the edge of the blade glowing with purple energy. Without looking at them the figure tells the kids "get to safety" they snap out of the aura and run father into town. After they're gone the figure buckles over in pain, he stabs his sword into the ground to keep himself from falling forward

The creatures looks down at the one that was able to wound it, its mouth hanging slightly open in a neutral manner, almost in awe.

Infinity looks up at the creature with a deathly serious stare, his usual brown eyes glowing a dark purple. Not even an ounce of fear is seen in them

"That's right. I'm the one you're after" he says

A trickle of blood runs down the side of his mouth.

The creature snaps out of its daze letting out a roar and slashes downward with its other arm

Infinity doesn't move. He can barely stand…

The black arm connects with the ground, smashing the spot to pieces.

A blur of orange appears in a flash next to the huntsmen, purple locks falling down its back

Yuzuki holds Infinity in her arms, who has gone slack

"You idiot!" she yells, tears starting to form in her eyes

Infinity's eyes open weakly, the purple in them fading

"What were you thinking?!" Yuzuki yells, more anger than sadness as tears swell up in them.

Infinity's mouth opens weakly. "This is my responsibility, I couldn't lay around and do nothing."

"You could barely stand, let alone fight!" Yuzuki screams, her voice growing horse

The huntsmen gather around the wounded Infinity, unsure how he was able to hurt the seeming untouchable creature or even move in his condition.

"How did you even hurt it?" the young swordsmen asks

Infinity turns his head weakly "physical attacks don't work on it, you have it hit it with some kind of energy based attack to do any damage."

A deep strong voice is suddenly heard behind the group

"I guess that's where I come in then, yes?"

They turn and a bear of a man is striding towards them. A huge beard of grey flows down his chest, partially covering up a heavy duty apron. Protective goggles sit on the top of his brow, covered in soot. All this together gives him the appearance of a blacksmith but the glowing metal armor on his legs screams warrior. A huge metal box that has the appearance of a furnace hangs on his back, a metal tube running down to connect to a giant rectangular cylinder object carried in tree truck arms. It and the backpack glows with scolding hot metal, but the man is unphased, heavy clothes such as protective gloves shielding him. A pilot light on the end of the weapon gives it the appearance of a flamethrower. But it would be more accurate to call it a flame cannon. Each heavy step the man takes is complimented with metal clanking of the armor covering his legs. The huge man smiles, a cigar shifting in the corner of his mouth.

"Why didn't anyone tell me there was such excitement about? How can I expect to work in the forge when there's glory to be won?!"

He steps past the group of other huntsmen and immediately pulls the lever on his molten powered weapon, a volley of flames rocket into the lower part of Abyss, burning away the outer layers of his shapeless form.

"Join me in slaying this foul beast!" he yells to the huntsmen.

Abyss roars in anger from the sudden attack, sending out tendrils of shadow out of his back to strike instead of reforming his seethered arm.

The other huntsmen charge forward, now having somewhat of an idea on how to defeat the strange beast.

The young swordsmen clenches his hands around the hilt of his sword, concentrating energy into the blade in the form of his aura.

"I haven't learned this technique very well yet, but it's better than nothing." He says, the glow of his aura now covering the sword. He swings and a wave of air is sent out, his semblance complimenting with his aura powered strikes. His attacks connect with incoming tendrils, cutting them to pieces.

The female sharpshooter begins letting loose incendiary grenades from her rifle's under barreled grenade launcher. They're usually only used to ward off Grimm but she figures she'll use the few she has.

The gazelle Faunus charges his tonfas with aura darting in and out of Abyss's attacks to get in quick strikes.

Yuzuki watches this from the sidelines. This aura they were using must be what she had to learn about to be able to use her deadly Shunko attack, she thought. But she was mostly focused on keeping Infinity out of harm's way than observing how they did it.

Abyss's attention falls to large man spraying him with fire who was doing the most damage. He slashes down with his one good arm, wanting to get rid of the annoyance.

The attack hits but is stopped dead instead of continuing through him. The man grins from behind the giant metal hammer in his arms, the flamethrower had changed form into the blunt weapon almost as large as the man's gut, molten material seeping through from within the creases of the hard outer shell.

"Now this is a fight worthy of the great Volcanus!"

He shatters the clawed hand to pieces with an explosion of lava from his hammer. He swinging wildly with his great hammer, obliterating anything in his path. As he charges forward the metal armor on his legs begins emitting the same molten glow as his weapon. He leaps upwards with a volcanic eruption at his feet sending him into the sky. He comes down with his hammer to the top of Abyss's head, smashing down with his feet with another eruption that combines with his hammer strike in a fantastic wave of flames that covers all of Abyss, knowing him onto his back. Standing on Abyss's belly Volcanus reverts his hammer to a flame cannon and fires point blank into Abyss's face. Laughing as he does. He continues firing until his fuel runs out. Long after Abyss is nothing but a black puddle on the ground. He steps away from his defeated foe, brandishing his hammer above his head and yelling "We are victorious my friends!"

But as he says this the puddle behind him stirs, small tendrils extending upward. It suddenly jumps into the air towards Volcanus's back

"No!" a voice yells out. A purple katana stabs through the blob forcing it to the ground before it can reach its target. Infinity sends a void energy wave surging into the ground, purple energy cracks forming through the dirt as the attack burns what's left of Abyss to ash.

Infinity falls to his knees exhausted, barely able to make the jump out of Yuzuki arms to deliver the blow.

The towering bearded man looks behind him surprised. A huge grin bigger than the last one he had forms as he chuckles heartedly.

"Quite the furious strike for such a tiny man. I thank you for not letting that blindsiding me" he goes to slap Infinity appreciatively on the back but stops short when he sees how injured the man is. "Especially in that condition…" he says complimentively

Yuzuki doesn't pull her punch

Infinity topples to the ground, a huge bruise forming on his jaw where the blow connected.

"YOU FUCKING MOREON! Yuzuki yells, glaring at Infinity on the ground with death in her eyes.

Volcanus involuntary takes a step back from the raging Women in front of him.

"YOU SURE SEEM PRETTY BRAIN DEAD FOR SOMEONE THAT'S SUPPOSED TO HAVE BRAIN BASED POWERS!"

Infinity remains unmoving on the ground but Yuzuki continues on her rant

"…AND DON'T YOU EVEN START ABOUT THE WHOLE 'it being your responsibility' bullshit!

What would happen to your 'responsibility' if something were to happen to you?! What would I do… if anything happened to you?" she falls to her knees in a puddle of tears, obvious more upset than actually angry or meaning anything she said.

Volcanus walks over to the two on the ground crouching down and gesturing towards Infinity

"I take it you're his wife." He says calmly towards Yuzuki

She stands up, trying to collect herself, wiping tears from her eyes and nodding slightly

"Alright, then that makes sense" Volcanus says, gently picking up Infinity in his muscular arms. He begins walking back into town, already spotting the worried Doctor running towards the scene. Having found the window in Infinity's room open wide, the patient gone he rushed out to look for him. He meets the burley blacksmith halfway, checking Infinity's vitals and checking for any new wounds. Yuzuki follows silently behind, her face to the ground, ashamed. Volcanus carries Infinity back to the medical building, mentioning to the doctor to tell Infinity to come see him at his forge when he's well, mentioning how he hated to see such a fine warrior's armor be in such a state.

After Dr. Ivern stabilizes Infinity Yuzuki leaves to get the books she had left at the library. She finds them alone, the young girl gone, unsurprising as the library was mostly deserted along with much of the town, people seeking shelter from the sudden appearance of a giant monster. She never saw the girl in town again, she must have been part of one of the groups that went from town to town like the one they had arrived with. Though at the time Yuzuki hardly even notices, simply picking up the books on autopilot as she's alone with her thoughts on the whole situation. She immediately returns to the medical center, setting the books down next to her chair, right before her face falls into her hands on her lap, and covering up her tears.

Infinity wakes up later. He finds Yuzuki asleep beside him. Not wanting to disturb her he simply starts reading the books she brought him. He went to work trying to piece things together. From first reading about the Grimm he's able to figure out that the reason Abyss was able to escape when he did because of a reaction to the Grimm's energy through the portal. The two's energy signatures were close enough that it could happen. Though it was still Infinity's own weakness that allowed Abyss to escape. Abyss had grown so powerful that he was now able to survive without a host, the creature they had fought earlier being a small part of him, far too. He had started to create himself an army.

While in the middle of thought Infinity is suddenly met by a warm hug from Yuzuki, catching him off guard. She had woken up.

Yuzuki looks away, feeling guilty.

"How much did you hear of that earlier?" she asks solemnly

"How much of what?" Infinity replies truthfully

"Honestly I don't remember anything. But I can infer what most of it was probably about." he says solemnly.

"I know I was being an idiot back there… I acted on instinct like I always do and failed to take your feelings into account. I'm sorry."

Yuzuki looked at him, flabbergasted. "Wait! I'm the one that should be apologizing. Not you. I'm the one that hit you after all."

'When she hit me?' he thought, not surprised but he didn't remember anything. He had been totally out after that last strike against the Abyssite.

"This whole situations been effecting me a lot more than I've been leading on. I didn't want to worry you but keeping it all in just backfired on me. When something involving Abyss comes up how can I not expect you to rush in to deal with it? Even if it was only part of Abyss." Yuzuki replies apologetically. It had dawned on her after the battle that the creature they fought was not Abyss himself. She had faced Abyss many times before and it was far too weak in comparison.

"No I shouldn't have overreacted like I did when it was only part of Abyss." Infinity said, trying to take the blame.

"I got too caught up in wanting to make amends for letting Abyss escape I wasn't paying attention to you."

His eyes widened, something dawning on him as he made a connection

"Oh dear god how could I have not even asked you about the part of Abyss inside you?! It's gone isn't it? Did it leave a wound like mine?!

"No…" Yuzuki replies solemnly

"It didn't hurt but it's not the only thing that's gone…"

"What do you mean?" Infinity asks worriedly

"The thing is…" Yuzuki stopped.

There was something I wanted to tell you back in the city. But I wanted to wait for the right time to explain that…

I was pregnant."

Infinity's heart skips a beat.

"And after my part of abyss left and we ended up here I realized the baby was gone."

Infinity's pupils shrink in horror at the realization of the full extent of what his weakness in allowing Abyss to escape caused.

But don't you dare put that on yourself!" Yuzuki yelled

"You couldn't have possibly known about Abyss, what was going on with me or what would happen to the baby!

I should have told you sooner… I was wondering if I was even cut out to be a mom. But now our baby's gone because of me!" her head falls into her hands and she starts crying.

Infinity's pupils go back to normal as he suddenly makes another realization.

"Wait, Yuzuki! That might not be the case."

"What?" Yuzuki says looking up

"Yuzuki, if when abyssite left the baby disappeared as well then that means Abyss might have it or it could have ended up somewhere else on this planet like we did"

He grabs Yuzuki by the shoulders and shakes her out of her daze.

"Our kid could be out there, we just have to find them!"

Yuzuki calms down a little but isn't quite convinced

"But how can we be sure they're ok, this world seems to have had plenty of monsters of its own even before Abyss showed up." she says

Infinity looks at her with full confidence in his eyes.

"They're the child of an interdimensional traveler and a Shinigami who have both kept Abyss under control for hundreds of years. We both know there's going to be a lot more to them than a normal kid, nor are they going to give into Abyss that easily.  
Once I get out of here we'll find our kid and put a stop to Abyss. No matter what"

He looks at her with eyes of determination and a face of pure seriousness. The one he has when convinced he'll get something done however long it took and without fail. A look Yuzuki had seen him use in countless dire situations before. It was unique to him and made her want to believe him with full confidence.

"I know we will" Yuzuki says, her sadness and doubt replaced with certainty.


	3. Chapter 2: A Chance Meeting

A chance meeting

10 years later-

Elsewhere in remnant—

Mountains outside of vale- - -

A calm breeze flows though the bare branches of a snow covered forest, the wind kicking up small particles of the undisturbed snow.

Suddenly black silhouette flash by, claws ripping up the snow as they dash between the trees. The dark creatures all head in the same direction, moving as a pack. Their red eyes narrow as they approach a clearing, where they had sensed a presence. The first reaches the tree line and bounds beyond, rushing towards the other side.

Suddenly its head shatters in a burst of red, a bullet exiting the back of its skull, flying past the ones behind it.

A gunshot is head in the distance a second after. A lone shooter stands on the other side of the clearing on top of a snow mound, their rifle a bright red matching the red cloak covering their face and body.

They expertly let off another two rounds, taking down two other approaching Grimm.

Suddenly another bursts from the tree line to the side, leaping straight for the cloaked figure. The shooter turns, whirling their weapon in a sideways ark. At the same time the parts of the rifle move and extend, a crescent blade emerging from the segmented metal. In once clean ark the scythe slices the Grimm in two, the red rushed sideways by the sudden movement revealing short red/black hair and silver eyes of a young girl. She black blouse and short combat skirt. Her face dawns an innocent grin.

Another Grimm leaps from the forest but is instantly met by a giant icicle to the face.

The girl turns in surprise to see her comrade in a white dress standing not far off. A ponytail as white as the snow hangs on the right side of her head. An elegant Rapier held in her left hand. She looks at the red girl with a face of annoyance. Ruby chuckles nervously and scratched the back of her head in apology. Weiss rolls her eyes wishing her partner would stay more aware.

She turns to face another wave of Grimm, thrusting her rapier into the snow. A wall of jagged ice bursts from below the creatures, impaling them or sending them flying upwards. She dashes up the slop of the ice and jumps to the other side, stabbing her sword into a creature the ice had missed.

In the shadows of the woods behind the two girls more creatures move from tree to tree, heading towards the clearing

A sleek shadow stirs in the dark branches above. A black katana descends from the trees and stabs downward through the top of one of creature's head. Yellow eyes stare coldly down at the creature as the lifeless body drops to the ground. A Grimm off to the side looks over at the sudden movement but is swept off its feet as its legs are sliced in half at the knee. As it lay on the ground its neck is sliced just as cleanly by the same blade. Its wielder stands back up, her jet black hair falling behind her shoulders. A black bow sits on the top of her head. Another Grimm slashes towards the girl but passes straight through the illusion, the attack causing it to disappear. It looks around in confusion for the girl but is suddenly stopped as a blade emerges between its eyes. The creature's body falls limply to the ground, revealing the yellow eyed girl standing behind it.

A loud crash is heard behind her and trees are powerfully smashed sideways as a huge Ursa bear leaps towards the girl. She senses it but doesn't move. A small smirk unconsciously forms on the edge of her mouth.

A yellow fireball hits the ursa's side midair, sending it flying like a rocket sideways into a group of trees. The sudden force sends the black hair of Blake whooshing sideways but she doesn't react.

The bear rolls in the air uncontrollably as the force sends it smashing through tree after tree.

It looks up just in time to see a yellow gauntlet smash into its face sending it crashing into the ground in a fiery explosion. The smoke clears revealing a crater where the ursa's head would be. Bright curly blonde hair emerges from the explosion, a huge smile on the girl's face it belongs to. More Grimm surround the crater, looking up at the yellow clothed girl standing on the ursa's body.

Her smile grows even bigger and she smashes her fists together challengingly.

"That bearly even got me warmed up. So who's next?" Yang says, looking down at her opponents while cracking her neck. They charge towards her and she lets off a volley of fiery punches.

Back in the clearing Weiss slashes through another wave of Grimm. She looks at Ruby between waves. "I thought you said this would be a relaxing trip through the mountains back to Vale."

Yang pipes in "What's more relaxing than fighting Grimm?" she says as she uses the force of her gauntlet blasts to snap a Grimm's neck between her hands.

"She did say this was supposed to be team bonding…" Blake says analytically.

"Come on Weiss, this is supposed to be a fun warm up for the second semester." Ruby replies energetically.

Wises sighs defeated. She supposed she shouldn't complain, she was in her element out here in the snow. She skates across the ice effortlessly going farther out into the clearing.

Blake peeks out from the tree truck she was behind as she finishes off another Grimm. She looks over to see Yang finish off her last one "the exit zone's clear" she calls out to the others.

"Good, because we got more up front" Ruby says looking through her scope as more Grimm emerge from the far tree line.

Blake and Yang join the rest of the team in the clearing. Yang charging ahead to meet the oncoming wave.

A pair of red triangular eyes glow from within the darkness of the forest observing the scene. But unlike the other creatures charging towards the group of four huntresses it backs away back into the darkness. A glowing red grin forming on its black razor teethed mouth.

Weiss continues to skate effortlessly across the Icey landscape, slashing down Grimm as they come with sword or dust as she travels. Yang is slightly behind her, blasting the main wave of Grimm that get past Weiss as she skates through the group. Ruby and Blake both stand on the hill the group has been using as cover, being the two with more ranged weapons they pick off enemies from a distance and cover their partner's backs. But they couldn't possibly cover them from what was about to happen.

A trail of snow pushed upwards weaves between the groups of Grimm like a snake, as if something was traveling just below the surface. None of the girls notice, focused slowly on the Grimm. A burst of black suddenly erupts from the slow in front of Weiss. A storm of snow flying outwards from the spot. Weiss stops in her tracks, unsure what to make of it. A shadowy form rises from the ground in front of her, 2 clawed arms pushing up from the snow. Growing red eyes snap open. A wave of fear suddenly washes over the four girls. They had all felt fear when fighting powerful foes before, but this was different. It was like a wave of energy bursts through the air from the spot the creature was standing. They all stare at it in confusion as the sensation griped them.

The creature looks at the white dressed girl in front of it, it raises a razor clawed hand into the air. Weiss can only stand there, her legs unresponsive. It slashes down, hitting Weiss center mass and sending her flying backwards.

Yang suddenly shakes off the trance, her eyes filling with anger. She dashes forwards, letting off a fiery fist of rage towards the creature. The creature that was about to advance suddenly jolts backwards, barely dodging the attack. As more fly towards the creature it weaves its shadowy body to avoid them. It then dives back under the snow, forced to fall back. But Yang doesn't let up, firing a barrage of blasts into the general direction of the creature, sending clouds of snow into the air. Blake's eyes come back into focus as she senses Grimm getting closer. A few were charging Yang from the side, who was oblivious. She was frenzying, Blake realized. She charges forwards, letting off a burst from her pistol to get them off Yang. Blake grabs Yang by the shoulder to try to get her attention. "Yang. Snap out of it, it's gone!"

Yang's eyes refocus and she stops.

"We have to fall back!" Blake yells.

Yang stirs, everything coming back to her. She turns and spots Weiss lying on the snow father back.

"Go." Blake urges, looking to Yang

Yang nods and dashes off towards Weiss.

Blake lets off another bursts of bullets towards the advancing Grimm, covering Yang's escape.

She turns and spots Yang picking up Weiss as she retreats towards Ruby

She looks around at the ground, trying to sense where the creature had gone. Why did she suddenly have a sinking feeling this was familiar?

Yang rushes towards Ruby who still appears dazed. But the sight of Weiss unconscious in Yang's arms snaps her out of it.

"What the Heck is going on?!" Ruby yells, angrily letting off a few rounds towards advancing Grimm as Yang passes beside her.

Blake retreats now as well, firing behind her to cover her own escape as she joins the rest of the team. She comes over the slope of the hill and sees Ruby and Yang setting Weiss down gently.

They examine Weiss's injury, a blow to her stomach. It would heal in time with aura but she was out cold.

"The real question is what the heck as that." Yang blurts out.

"It was no Grimm" Weiss suddenly stirs, her eyes opening weakly. "I've never heard of some like that."

"I certainly haven't read about anything like that in any books." Blake says. Nothing non fictional anyway. But then why does it seem familiar she thought.

"It seems gone now, though" she adds.

"That thing might be, but they certainly aren't" Ruby says as she puts her sniper over the ridge of the snow hill and takes aim at approaching Grimm.

Yang reloads her gauntlets. "It's not going to be easy getting out of here when we're down a teammate. We're going to have to clear them out."

Blake gets up on the ridge and takes aim with her pistol as well but is suddenly met by an ear-piercing ringing. She covers both sets of ears with her arms as they scream in pain giving her a splitting headache.

"Now what?!" she screams over the noise

"What's wrong Blake?" Yang says, concerned

Blake turns to her, barely hearing "How can you not hear that?!"

She realizes none of the others seem effected. Was it her extra ears? But her thought was suddenly interrupted as she spotted something past the rest of her team, where the sound seemed to be originated.

A swirl of purple began forming in the air

"What the…!" Blake yelled over the sound.

The others turned to see what she was looking at and gasped as well.

Small metal flashes fly out of the purple circle towards the Grimm, landing in the snow. Four pointed metal stars, Shurikens. They explode simultaneously, disrupting the Grimm's advance.

Blake stares at this in wonder. The explosions washing out the high pitched ringing in her ears but also distracting her.

"Blake watch out!" she suddenly hears Ruby yell.

She turns just in time to see a Beowulf leaping towards her.

But it's suddenly stopped mid jump. A purple blade emerges from the middle of its face.

The Grimm drops to the ground, revealing a black cloaked man standing behind it. Black and purple armor is visible from underneath the cloth covering his shoulders and tattered cape on his back. A cloth ninja mask covers the bottom half of the man's face but a three claws scar under the man's right eye is still visible. His eyes themselves look in the direction of Blake and the other but they are unforced, as if he's focused on something else.

A Grimm suddenly appears from his back left. Without looking he swings the black and purple katana in his left hand backwards, slicing the creature's chest. He then brings the sword forward and around to his right, thrusting the blade under his right arm, stabbing another Grimm right behind him.

Its then that he looks at the girl in front of him. Pulling down the ninja mask to speak.

"Get your friend to safety, we'll cover you." He says in a serious but concerned tone.

Blake looks up at him in confusion. "Wait. We?"

Her question is answered as an orange bolt of lightning strikes the middle of the Group of Grimm, sending those in the impact flying in an explosion of electricity. A tan cloaked figure with a full ninja mask stands up from the center.

One of the nearby Grimm charges towards them. A sleek orange metal gantlet emerges from the cloak with a surge of electricity, hitting the Grimm center mass. Another surge of electricity is released along the ground, propelling the figure forward in a flash and revealing similar metal boots from under the cloak. A punch with the opposite glove connected with the Grimm's face, shattering it and sending the body flying. The figure suddenly surges backwards even faster than the initial dash and roundhouse kicks another incoming Grimm. Blake looks back from this display of power and is surprised to see the black cloaked man is gone. She turns to her teammates who are also in awe. But there was no time to question who these warriors that were helping were. They needed to get the injured Weiss out of there. As they begin to move back into the forest to their exit Blake covered the rear, looking back to the battlefield.

She spots the purple armored huntsmen in the midst of the Grimm, slashing through the group with blinding speed. He notices a few getting past him heading towards RWBY and he twirls around, throwing his sword. Curved triangular attachments on both sides of the hilt suddenly fold out from the side, more parts inside eventually forming a circle like pizza slices. The katana blade splits into four parts long its length that then wrap around between the two circles, falling into place each 90 degrees and extending. This forms what appears to be a giant shuriken, which spins in the air towards the wayward Grimm, slicing through them and arcing back towards its owner. More Grimm converge on the huntsmen while he's disarmed. He takes a fighting stance and expertly takes them down with hand to hand combat, using a mixture of grapples and strikes. A large Ursa joins the fray and swings its claws towards him but he grabs the shuriken out of the air and it seamlessly returns to katana mode as he swings his arm downward toward the advancing attack, stopping it dead. It then that Blake realizes he's in the center of the clearing, where the unusual Grimm had attacked Weiss. She thinks to warn him but something happens before she can.

Infinity scans the snow covered group around him

"Don't act like I don't know your there." He says threateningly and stabs his sword into the ground with a surge of purple energy. Purple cracks spread out on the ground from the point of impact.

A surge of black bursts from the ground around him. He had hit the creature.

Blake's eyes widen in surprise. How did he know it was there?

The ground under Infinity's feet crumbles beneath him. More black tendrils bursting upwards. He quickly jumps into the air and blocks, tendrils fallowing upwards to try to surround him. It was bigger than he thought. As he rises in the air he suddenly feels a presence at his back. He smirks as he knows who it is. Turning his head he is met by a similar smile hidden under a tan mask, yellow eyes that revealed she knew exactly what he was thinking. Infinity locks his arms behind his back with Yuzuki's and twists in the air, redirecting both their momentum back downwards in a rapid spiral head first. As they plummet towards the ground a glove emerges from Yuzuki's cloak, glowing with electrical discharge as it charges up energy. It connects with the ground where the abyssite emerged with a blinding electrical explosion, bolts hitting each tendril and traveling through the rest of its body, causing it to spread out from its initial spot. As the light of the electricity dissipates the two figures of Infinity and Yuzuki can be seen back to back, standing on the ground where the abyssite had been. Electricity discharges from Infinity's armor as it's redirected to its power supply, preventing it from hurting him. Tendrils of black rise up around them as the abyssite tries to reform. Something Infinity wasn't about to let happen. His katana turns back into shuriken mode and his spins it above his head. The excess electricity from his armor systems dischargeing from the blades as they spin, keeping the abyssite at bay. The tendrils stop and recede back into the ground. Just as he thought, after taking so much damage it would retreat. Or at least try to…

Infinity and Yuzuki simultaneously break into a sprint in the direction the abyssite was heading underground, back through the Grimm to reach the tree line.

'Not so fast' Infinity thinks, throwing his giant shuriken ahead of him towards the abyssite. The Grimm ahead of them converge on their position and both shinobi let lose a fury of strikes to clear a path. As one goes high another strikes low without so much as whisper from either, showing just how experienced the two were working together. As Infinity punches above at a leaping Beowulf Yuzuki dives below him delivering a sliding kick to another, taking out its legs. As Infinity kicks left into a white skulled face. Yuzuki grapples right, snapping a razor claws arm. They continue moving like this through the Grimm. Covering the other's blind spot as they go. They gain on the abyssite's underground trail. Yuzuki dives downwards and delivers a punch to the ground. An electrical surge follows alongside the abyssite's trail, catching up rapidly. The creature is tit and its shadowy form bursts from the ground as it's forced to the surface by the electricity. It's head turns and is met by a shuriken blade stabbing into its face, slicing its head in half as it roars in pain.

Infinity reaches it and a left fist glowing with purple aura connects with the creature's body below its neck, tearing through it. Infinity grabs on with the energy attack, preventing the creature from escaping. His right hand emerges from behind his back with a metal cylinder. He thrusts it towards the abyssite and holds a button. The black form of the abyssite is sucked into the nozzle on the end of the cylinder, trapping it. He stands up and nods to Yuzuki. They had to get back to the girls.

Though the two had taken out most of the Grimm the stragglers had run off in the direction of the others, deciding they were easier prey.

As the remaining Grimm approach Blake picks them off with her pistol while the sisters continued carrying Weiss. There had been about ten left and she shot them down one by one when suddenly her gun clicked. She was out of ammo and three were still coming. No time to reload. She goes to revert her gun to a sword when a flash of orange appears in her line of sight. A single punch sends one Grimm flying into another and into the snow. A tan cloaked figure lands next to her, it motions for her to join her team. A second later a cloak of black appears next to the tan. Infinity raises his shuriken as its circular form folds in half, revealing gun sights at the top. The four blades had folded up next to another, forming a curved bayonet at the bottom. He pulls the trigger and a bullet flies into the last Grimm's head, sending it reeling to the ground. Blake looks back and wonders 'who are these guys' as she leaves. Infinity turns to Yuzuki. She punches down and a wall of persistent electricity forms at the tree line, preventing any more Grimm from fallowing for a short time.

"Let's go" he says and they dash off into the forest after the girls

The group reconvenes father in the forest at a fallen Tree that's now on its side. Weiss is set down against the log to rest and the other girls sit down next to her. When Infinity and Yuzuki come into the clearing Blake looks at them skeptically. She was always questionable of strangers but the katana the one used also reminded her too much of someone else. She stands up but is interrupted by an ecstatic Ruby who jumps up in front of her.

"Wow. You were like 'wah' and then that thing was like 'vuum' but then you were like 'zahh' and then you were both like keyah!..." Ruby says excitedly, imitating what she had seen them do, punching and kicking the air.

Blake steps around her to face the two adults. "More importantly, who are you guys?! And what was that?" she says bluntly. Motioning in the direction of the field.

"Who are you calling guy?" a women's voice answers. The tan cloak is removed, revealing a feminine figure and long flowing purple hair. Yuzuki turns to look at the girls with sly grin, seeing that they were somewhat surprised. Blake is struck by the Yellow eyes that meet hers.

Infinity looks at Yuzuki to his side as her grin grows larger. She always did love getting reactions out of people like that, he thought. He looks back to the girls to answer their questions

"I'm Sean Murasakino and this is my partner Yuzuki. We're huntsmen. That thing was a… unusual type of Grimm. We sort of specialize in taking them down."

"Wait, partners as in fighting or romantically?" Yang asks, somewhat off topic

"Oh… in every sense of the word…" Yuzuki says slyly.

Blake tries to get the questions back on track. "Not just that creature. What was that purple swirl thing that you came through and gave me a splitting headache? It looked like some kind of portal"

Infinity looks at her somewhat surprised. Usually no one saw the portals, let alone heard them.

"Sorry. They don't usually make any noise so I wouldn't know why it did now."

Ruby motions to Blake "maybe it's because of your…" she points to right above her head but then realizes her mistake and quickly moves down to her ear. "Uh… sensitive hearing" she corrects herself, not so subtly. Blake sighed, relived that she at least tried to cover up the sensitive information regarding what was under Blake's bow"

Infinity turns to Yuzuki. "You didn't hear anything did you?"

Yuzuki shrugs at him, having not heard anything. She looks at Blake and her expression changes. She leans in and looks at Blake in the eye with a face of perplex.

"Hey, have we met before? You seem kind of familiar."

Blake flinches back slightly in surprise at the sudden question. "I- I don't think so..." she regains her cool "wait… don't try to change the subject. What was that portal thing? Where did you come from?" she says somewhat rudely

Yuzuki straightens back up calmly "Sorry, might of mistaken you for someone else" she says, never had intending to change the subject

Infinity sighs, knowing there was no point in covering up now

"It was a portal between dimensions. We came from another universe." He says almost too honestly.

"You really expect us to believe-" Blake says but is cut off midsentence

"Wow! That's awesome! So you're like interdimensional travelers like in those sci-fi shows and stuff?! I bet you go on all kinds of adventures!" Ruby say, asking questions a million miles an hour.

This time Blake cuts Ruby off "You honestly believe they're telling the truth with something like that" she says somewhat angrily. The rest of the team look at her, taken aback hostility.

Infinity just looks at her calmly and replies "I can understand you not believing something as crazy as that at first. But we don't have any reason to lie to you. You saw the portal with your own eyes so there no denying it from us."

"Ok then say you are telling the truth. Then why did you come to our universe?"

"Well to be honest I don't control where the portals take me, the multiverse just kind of sends me places." He says, scratching the back of his head.

"If you're just ending up random places then why are you getting involved in other universe business?" Blake says skeptically.

"Well I try to go unnoticed and just help things go as they should Infinity says somewhat unconfidently.

"But I'm also not just going to stand by and do nothing when there are people that need help. Not to mention there's also 'crossover events' where something from one world ends up in another." his expression changing to one of seriousness as he says all this.

"So you're like superheroes that go around helping people!" Ruby exclaims excitedly "Do you have like super powers or cool hero names?"

"Actually maybe that would help convince you. I do kind of have a super power." He turns around and grabs a clump of snow. A purple glow is seen from his hands and her turns back around and a plate of cookies is in his hands.

"Anyone like chocolate chip?" he says cheerfully.

Ruby's eyes light up with sparkles and she immediately grabs a handful

"Wait. How did you know..?" Weiss asks

Infinity looks around nervously "uh.. Well…"

He turns to Ruby "wait. Are you named Lavina?"

She looks up from the cookies, surprised. "No, I'm actually named Ruby. Ruby Rose."

"Oh, sorry. You kind of look like someone I've met before." He says apologetically, scratching the back of his head at the mistake.

This makes the others realize they hadn't introduced themselves. Weiss gives hers proudly, expecting them to recognize the name. Yang acts cool when giving hers.

Blake says hers reluctantly after looks from her team. "Blake… Belladonna."

"Nice to meet you" Infinity says to them all.

Ruby jumps up from her cookies "and together we're team RWBY!" she strikes a pose.

Infinity chuckles. "Oh, so you're a team of huntresses in training I take it then?"

Blake sighs, wanting to get back on track. "So was that some sort of transmutation?" she asks referring to what Infinity just did.

He smiles, she seems to catch on fast. "Yea, I can alter matter around me to create what I imagine in my head. They actually call me Infinity, after people's infinite imaginations. I've actually built all my armor and weapons you see with them." He motioned to his armor and sword

Ruby instantly jumps at the chance to look at his weapon, being a weapon geek.

Yuzuki takes off one of her gauntlets and shows her boots to the girls. Explaining how she uses a combination of her electricity semblance and dust to power them and speed her up. Yang is naturally fascinated by her gauntlets.

Blake looks at the weapons analytically. "Wait if you're from another universe how do you know about semblance, dust and Grimm?"

"Well this actually isn't our first time in this universe. We learned about it and I made these weapons the first time we ended up here. Infinity replies. Though often times I know some information about a universe before I get there. That wasn't the case with yours. I don't know if you're much of a reader. But just about any work of fiction, whether it be book, video or game is probably another universe somewhere. So I often find out about a universe that way."

The rest of the team turn to Blake with a look that says 'yea, about that…'

"Yea I read, some…" Blake says, understating it.

"Yeah your universe could be a story, show, web series, or whatever else. I haven't encountered it yet though" Infinity continues.

Blake had read theories about the possibility of other universes and the possibility of fiction

Being realty. She hadn't though much of it before but she wasn't surprised to hear that they were somewhat right. She ponders. Thinking of what else to inquire about.

"How did you know what was going on before coming through the portal before? You sent those explosives to deal with the Grimm before you came through."

"Well once I've been to a universe my system logs it and I can tell when I'm ending up there again. I senses the Grimm so I knew there'd be trouble when we came through" Infinity replies

"But how could you 'sense' the Grimm and know where to throw the explosives before you came through?" Blake analyzes further

"Well it has to do with how my powers work with sensing matter around me…"

The others present just look back and forth at the two going at it, awed by how in depth the two were discussing things and how in sync they seemed to be. Yuzuki was getting bored. Having to listen to one nerd blab about this stuff all the time was bad enough.

"What was that 'unusual Grimm' really? If you are going after it it's not of this world is it?" Blake asked

Infinity sighs, the conversation going to a somewhat touchy subject. "Your right. That wasn't a Grimm. It's a creature that's known as abyss. Or should I say part of it. There was once only one. A shapeless being that's only desire was to consume. I did have it contained but it continued to grow more powerful even while sealed away."

He pauses, not enjoying recounting what happened and not wanted to give away too many details. Talking about a monster that was inside of you isn't exactly calming information for most. "Unfortunately it was probably inevitable it broke out, looking back. You've seen for yourself how it resembles the Grimm. Their energy signatures were similar enough that Abyss was able to draw upon their energy and enabling it to escape. Now it's divided into smaller entities like the one you just saw."

"Wait. So that thing came through with you? If you had it contained why would you bring it with you traveling?" Blake asks criticizingly

"Uh…It's complicated" Infinity says, trying to push the question off.

"Complicat?-" Blake is suddenly cut off by a flash of yellow in front of her

"Hey. It's getting pretty late so how about we leave the nerd talk for later" Yang said, getting between Blake and Infinity. "We haven't even got a fire going and its already getting dark." She says, trying to diffuse the conversation Blake was escalating.

Infinity is snapped out of his train of thought about abyss by the sudden topic change

"Of course I can get a fire started easily but I'd need something to burn." She says

"Oh. I could go get some wood" Infinity says. Trying to be helpful.

Yuzuki, not wanting to be continued to be bored by the science talk jumps up as well.

"I'll go double check the perimeter" she says. Flash stepping away before anyone can respond.

Infinity gets up to go look for firewood.

"Hey we aren't don-" Blake goes to say, trying to get more out of him but is immediately met by Yang's disapproving gaze.

Yang turns back to Infinity with a smile.

"Thanks. that would be a big help. We'll start setting up here." She says.

Infinity leaves and she looks back at Blake, cross.

"What was that about?" Blake says, annoyed.

"I thought you said you were going to try to be more sociable" Yang responds.

"What does that have to do with?-"

"The fact you were interrogating the people that just got us out of that sticky situation" Yang responds immediately.

"You were coming off pretty rude..." Ruby says, supporting Yang.

"Well what would you expect when they're claiming something like being from another universe? Not to mention it sounds like they were partially why we were in that situation in the first place." Blake says defensively.

"It also sounds like they're trying their best to make up for whatever happened. So lay off them will ya? I know your book smart but you can't possibly expect to understand the whole situation they're in." Yang says

Blake sits down, defeated.

"I guess you're right. I was being too hard on them. It just they- he reminds me too much of someone else I used to know."

"Well try to get to know them before making judgements like that. We'll probably need their help getting back to Vale with Weiss hurt. Can't have you chasing them off over something like that." Yang says, trying to persuade Blake with logic

Blake sigh "Fine. I'll try to be nicer to them. But don't expect me to trust them."

The group makes camp as it begins to get dark. They weren't getting anywhere without letting Weiss gets some rest. Infinity returns with firewood and Yang has a campfire going in no time. Yuzuki returns from patrol as she smells something cooking as she was getting hungry.

As they begin to eat a casual conversation starts up, though Blake remains mostly quite.

"So where is your team headed in this neck of the woods anyway." Infinity asks the girls.

"We're headed back to vale to start our next semester at Beacon." Ruby responds excitedly.

"Oh yes, Beacon." Infinity says remembering.

"I've actually met Ozpin before, who I assume is still the headmaster there. He would have us do jobs for him while I was here. Though depending on how long I might have been gone that may no longer be the case." He says chuckling.

"Since we're headed the same way we could always help you get there. I mean Abyss is our responsibility so it's the least we could do since Weiss got hurt." He says. Partially blaming himself for what happened. Blake looks up, somewhat surprised he seemed to be taking responsibility.

Yang pipes in, not wanting Blake to get started again. "No, that's silly. We were in a battle with Grimm anyway so you can't possibly blame yourself for one little creature hiding among them. Isn't that right girls?"

"That would be absurd" Weiss responds

"It all worked out in the end" Ruby says agreeing

Yang looks at Blake who remains silently.

"Right…" Blake says, looking away seeming uninterested.

"But you traveling with us would be great" Ruby says energetically.

"Maybe you could show me more about how your weapons work" she adds, hoping to see Infinity's weapon designs.

Infinity chuckles, happy to share his weapon knowledge.

Later in the night Blake lays awake next to her team sleeping soundly in sleeping bags next to her as well as Yuzuki not far off.

Blake looks up and spots Infinity sleeping in a tree, preferring the branches over the ground. She looks away, trying to ignore him. He still reminded her to much of 'him' she thought.


	4. Chapter 3: Traveling

Chapter 3 traveling

The next morning the group packs up to continue their journey down the mountain.

Things get interesting when someone asks how long Yuzuki and Infinity have been together.

"You know. A Few hundred years at this point now." Yuzuki answers way too calmly

"A few… HUNDRED year?!" Weiss exclaims, utterly dumbfounded. The others look as surprised as she is though Blake also has a face of suspicious as with the other things they say.

"You do realize that's an unusual amount of time to be alive unless you're something like a Shinigami dear. Let alone being together with someone that long." infinity says, trying to make Yuzuki understand the weight of the words she just said.

"But you both barely even look 30" Yang says. Still confused.

"I do look quite good for my age now don't I" Yuzuki says, running her fingers through her hair and smiling

"Well Shinigami like Yuzuki naturally live hundreds of years. But for me because I've been travelling between dimensions without any sort of vehicle for so long my physical time lines been messed up pretty bad." infinity says. Trying to give a simple answer.

"How many worlds have you been to after that long?" Blake asks

"Dozens if not hundreds at this point." Infinity replies. "Lost track of how many lifetimes I've lived" he says. Continuing down the mountain path. The group continues keeps themselves entertained by telling stories and jokes. Blake stays mostly quiet. She watches as Infinity and Yuzuki smile and laugh with the rest of them. "How can they be care free when they're in the situation they had described earlier?" she thought, remembering what Infinity had said about the creature Abyss. She continues to pondering. She had said she'd give them a chance but still found them suspicious.

Later in the day they stop to give the injured Weiss a rest. Sitting down in a field

"I suppose I could continue ahead to scout out our route" Infinity says, looking farther down the trail.

"Hey Blake you mentioned you know this area well. Why don't you go with him?" yang says, patting her on the back and pushing her forward.

"Even so why would I need to go. He'd be fine on his own" Blake says to Yang under her breath, not wanting the others to hear.

"You said you were going to try to get along with them better didn't you" yang rebuttals

Blake sighs, "fine" she says, regretting her own words.

She steps up next to infinity "I suppose it will go faster with two of us" she says as Infinity turns to look at her.

She steps past him, going farther up the trail and looks back at him with uninterest.

"Try to keep up..." she says before disappearing into the trees in a flash

"Well that certainly sounds familiar" he says, looking behind him at Yuzuki with a smirk

"You wouldn't hear it as much if you could actually keep pace with me" Yuzuki replies slyly

"If memory serves I won our last race 'goddess of flash'" infinity replies just as smugly

"Yeah, yeah." Yuzuki says annoyed.

Infinity disappears in a flash after Blake

Blake who is jumping from tree to tree was wondering where Infinity was after a few seconds is surprised when he catches up to her so quickly, falling in line beside her

He smiles in hello and she speeds up to try to get ahead, not paying attention to him. When he speeds up to catch up with her she speeds up further to try to lose him. This time he passes her, leaving her in the dust. She rolls her eyes in annoyance as she goes to catch up

When she gets back up with Infinity he's now leaping backwards, facing towards her and resting his head on his arms behind his head. Blake sighs in further annoyance. He was treating it like a game. She just ignores him and keeps going forward. Eventually they come to a clearing and Blake lands on a large rock. Infinity landing in the tall grass peeking out of the snow beside it.

"If you so old why are you acting like your 10." She asks patronizingly

"What's the point in being grown up if you can't act childish sometimes" infinity replies blissfully. He walks past her farther into the clearing. Blake rolls her eyes, knowing where he got the line but not wanting to indulge him.

"I would think you would act more serious based on the situation you described you're in. why are you so optimistic?"

Infinity looks back at her "someone's has to be"

Blake looks away from him, Sick of the one liner answers.

"Why do I even bother talking to you, all you spout is nonsense anyway…" She stamps her foot down hard as she begins striding down the length of the rock she's standing on. Putting distance between her and Infinity. Infinity sighs, seeing that she wasn't going to even try getting along with him. His expression changes when he notices something below her.

"Uh…Blake…" he says concerned

"I'm not talking to you..." Blake says defiantly, not even paying attention.

"Whether you talk to me or not you got to move" Infinity says infinity instantly

"What the hell are you talking abou-?" Blake stops as she feels her feet move. The snow covered rock be eighth her begins to stir, putting her off balance. With a rumble the boulder rises up, snow sliding off from the sudden movement, hitting the ground next to four huge armored legs rising beneath the rock. Blake turns and sees spiked protrusions on the top and side of the rock emerge from the snow that had been covering them. A massive armored tail rises from the ground at the far end of the huge mass she was standing on. As Infinity watches this a large domed head rises up in front of him. Two red eyes barely visible under a thick layer of platted rock like armor stare at him. The same rock armor runs down the entire length of its body to a tail in the form a massive stone mace. The same armor is present on the belly and four sprayed out legs of the beast. Large spikes also protrude between the plates of armor down the length of its back, adding attack to its defense. An armored blunt beak opening at the front. A snort of air escapes from two nostrils on the beak, the snow filling them sent out in a cloud by the force. A roar escapes from the beak and the massive body sways, sending Blake flying off into the snow. The creature of Grimm turns, looking Infinity in the eye.

"A fricken Ankylosaurs?" infinity says, recognizing the form in surprise.

"A what?" Blake says annoyed and confused.

"Heavy armored tank with an attitude to boot. Watch out for its wrecking ball of a tail and spiked back. We're going to have to find a chink in its armor if we even want to hurt it…" Infinity says, weary of what they were dealing with.

"Like I'm going to take orders from you..." Blake says, defying him out of spit. She leaps at the Ankylo from behind. Going for its neck while it's distracted by Infinity. Her blades connect behind its head with a clanged, stopping dead in their tracks to no effect, except getting the creature's attention. It sways, tossing her to the side. Blake goes into a roll as he hits the ground immediately dives under the creature's body. As she slides she slices its legs and belly trying to hit a weak point to no avail as she reaches the other side. Blake stands back up and turns to face her opponent again when she spots something in the corner of her eye. She's barely able to react as the Ankylo's club tail swings towards her at blinding speed. She crosses her arms and blades in defense as she tries to avoid the attack. The club itself misses her but she's caught square in the chest farther up the tail, sweeping her off her feet, force enough to still send her flying several meters across the ground into a rock. Blake's eyes stir painfully, her body aches all over. As the black clears from her vision she can see the Ankylo charging at her with surprising speed. It spins as it get close using its momentum to swing its huge tail around towards her. As she attempts to stand it sends shots of pain through her limbs. She can't move. Blake's eyes since close in another attempt to move, the last thing she sees is the wrecking ball flies towards her head from the side. In the black Blake hears a loud clank and a gush of air fly into her face in place of a skull shattering blow. She's able to open her eyes and sees Infinity to her side, his katana scrapping against the bone of the club tail. The motors in the joints of his armor wire as they keep Infinity in place against the swinging tail. The Ankylo continues putting force into its swing, causing the motors to sputter and strain as they struggle to keep the force at bay.

The happy face Infinity had before is replaced with one of total seriousness, scowling at the creature in front of him as he grits his teeth.

"Move!" he yells at Blake behind him.

She struggles past the pain and is able to stand and dashes out of the way, though her strides hobbled. As soon as Blake is out of the way Infinity dives to the side, his armor joints unable to take any more pressure without risk of breaking. He parries with his sword diagonal to the force being applied to him. The momentum of the tail swing sends him the same way as the blow was headed but wider and out of the way of danger. The tail continues past him and it built up moment sends it crashing into the creature's own side. Infinity rolls as he drives and then goes into a three point sliding halt. Sheets of bone tumble to the ground next to the creature's side. A crack in its armor is visible on the part of the back the tail had connected with. The crack spreads, more chucks of armor sliding off its back along with splintered spikes. Infinity rises from his kneel and the creature locks eyes with him. Its eyes glow with rage as it pushes off the pain of the blow and stares at the enemy partially responsible. Infinity breaths heavily from the strength he had to exert to stop the tail. Out of the corner of his eye he spots Blake continuing to move away from the action. She moves as fast as she can towards a group of rocks large enough to hide behind, partially limping from the blow from before. Suddenly a chill craws up her neck and cat ears as she nearly reaches the rocks. She turns and sees the Ankylo looking at her. As the creature's eyes narrow in on its target its beak mouth closes almost in a cheerful grin in finding easier prey. But as it does this a spinning object comes into view. Time slows revealing it to be a shuriken. It connects with the side of the creature's head and it's engulfed in an explosion. Blake leaps over the rocks as the explosion lights up the field behind her. She peeks out and sees Infinity's arm stretched out from the throw he just made. The creature emerges from the smoke unscathed but not looking at Infinity. He stands from his tired crouch and takes a fighting stance, motioning with his right hand in challenge "come on, I'm the one you want" he says towards the creature. Blake can see he's trying to keep the Grimm focused on him. He was trying to protect her even after the way she's been treating him. "Why" she thought. She slides back behind the rock to let her aching body rest. She couldn't see a way to help him even if she wanted to.

The Ankylo with a powerful bound begins charging towards Infinity. Infinity breaks into a sprint in the other direction towards a patch of trees in the field. He leaps into a lower branch and turns to face the charging beast. From there he has a better view of the break in the creature's armor. Cracks formed on its back above its back right leg. His sword changes form and he chucks it with his left arm, the shuriken flying in a wide arc turning right, spiraling in the air towards the weak spot. Its blades connect with the spot with a clang still unable to pierce its remaining armor. It bounces off and to the side and falls towards the ground but is caught out of the air by a mini grappling hook, Infinity's secondary method of retrieving it. The cord threads back into its launch point on the side of his gauntlet.

"Well that's not going to work" Infinity says under his breath as he grabs the shuriken out of the air as it's pulled back. The cord of the grapple finishes pulling in and the hook pugging back into its slot in the machinery of Infinity's forearm armor. He looks down as the creature continues charging towards him. He had to figure out a way to actually damage the creature. He had to do what he did best after years of traveling to different worlds, adapt. Infinity turns and leaps out of the tree just as the Ankylo connects with its trunk, smashing through it like it's nothing. Infinity hits the ground running, staying ahead of the raging creature. He spots a tall boulder jutting out of the ground, wider than the creature and twice as tall.

"Maybe that will stop it in its tracks" he says quickly looking back at his pursuer and quickens his pace towards the rock. He leaps to its peak and turns to face the beast but is surprised when the rock beneath his feet crumbles beneath him as the front of the creature smashes through. He dives over the creatures back and lands safely on the ground. He turns to see a cloud of grey dust where the boulder had been. As it begins to clear he can see the Ankylo shaking off shattered pieces of rock off its back. If the collision had done any damage to the creature it was unnoticeable. Its red eyes turn to him unphased. Infinity couldn't keep this game of cat and mouse up much longer he thought. "The only thing so far that was able to hurt it was…"

He turns back to where he had protected Blake.

"...Itself." he sprints in the direction of the initial blow as fast as he can, not bothering to check if the creature was following him.

Blake had witnessed all this from behind a rock at the sidelines, lays low, letting her aura treat her wounds. She watches as Infinity dashes like mad in the direction he had originally come from. "Where was he going?" she thought. It was in the middle of the open. She turns to look where he was going. Her eyes focus on something breaking up the snow covered grass. Cracked pieces of bone armor scattered on the ground. Infinity's eyes focus in on the same thing. Reaching out to grab one as quick as he could. Then hears a thundering roar of steps grow behind him. The Ankylo was charging faster than ever before. Frenzied from running through the rock before. Infinity realized it was going to overtake him within seconds. With only feet between them Infinity dives to the side out of the way of the charge. Shooting the grappling hook out of his gauntlet in hopes of grabbing something. The mass of the Ankylo whooshes past Infinity as he slides to a stop on the ground. The charging beast continues forward unable to stop. It makes a wide ark, slowing down and turning to face its enemy. As it comes around it sees Infinity standing. The grapple line finishes retracting and he pulls up a splintered spike that had fallen off the creature earlier. He readjusts the hold the grapple claw has on the piece so it's held horizontally the point of the spike facing outwards to the side. He lets the grapple line go slack to extend to about double arm's length, grabbing the end of the line in his left hand. He begins twirling the line, the spike slicing through the air at the end to create a makeshift kusarigama, a chain sickle. He continues swinging his newly made weapon around, getting a feel for it but he had little time as he notices the Ankylo turns to him and prepares to charge. Infinity dashes towards it, swinging the Kama in wide arcs as he runs, building up momentum. The creature runs towards him head on in hopes of head butting him. Infinity sidesteps left and brings the spike arcing right as the body of the Ankylo passes him. Its swing connects with the previously damaged armor and creates another crack off the main one. The creature roars in pain and swings its tail to its right towards where Infinity was. Infinity jumps upwards upwards, retrieving the spike with a pull of the line as he rises above the swinging tail. He swing the spike up and then downwards as he leaps sideways over the creature's back, hitting with the spike on armor plates on the opposite side of its back. Another crack on the armor forms. Infinity lands on the opposite side of the creature where its tail was swinging at where he had been. The creature continues with its tail's momentum and spins its body the opposite way so it's facing where Infinity was.

Blake watches in fascination as some of the techniques were similar to those she used with gambol shroud in Kama form. The Ankylo charges towards Infinity once again. Infinity spins 360 counter clockwise, putting the Kama into a wide arc leftwards. As the Ankylo continues towards him the spike connects with the left side of its head, cracking the armor around the eye. But the bone at the end of Infinity's line shatters on impact as well. Having no time to dodge sideways Infinity dives forward between the beast's legs. As he dives he grabs another plate of bone off the ground. One the Ankylo was passed he clamped the claws of the grapple to the piece of bone. The new piece was a flat piece of armor broken in somewhat a square shape. It wouldn't hit at a point like the spike but was larger and could still be used in a cutting motion if swung at the right angle. As the Ankylo changes in an arc to face Infinity again he dashes in from the side, swinging the armor shard into the creature's legs. He does this repeatedly, swinging the line at different angles. The creature roars in pain as he breaks through the arm at one of the joints. It rears up on hits hind legs and tries to stomp down on him. But Infinity sidesteps, dodging the uncoordinated attack with minimal effort as it falls past him smashes into the ground beside his feet. Infinity leaps upwards, twisting sideways in the air as he brings his weapon into a vertical arc upwards. Midair he swings the line down and the shard connects with another part of the creature's armor. He tugs at the line, the weapon stuck in the Ankylo's back pulling him downward rapidly. He lands on the armored back and continues to swing his weapon, hitting different parts of the armor to spread the cracks. The Ankylo roars in pain and shakes its body violently, throwing Infinity upwards and off. Its tail comes around and shatters the armor at the end of Infinity's grapple. He quickly retracts the line to prevent damage. Infinity is now floating in the air with his back to the ground. He spots multiple pieces of armor thrown into the air along with him. He crosses his arms upwards and shoots a grapple from each gauntlet. Grabbing two fractured spikes out of the air before he hits the ground. The Ankylo turns towards him, one of its legs limping from the repeated blows earlier. Infinity lets both grapple lines go slack and begins twirling both spikes simultaneously from either arm. Now having two makeshift Kama and chains. He begins walking towards the creature, careful to not cross the swinging lines.

The Grimm charges forwards ignoring its injured leg to pick up speed. Infinity's walk increases to a run as he engages the creature once more. Swinging the spikes in simultaneous arcs the hit multiple parts of the creature's armor as he ran. As he passes its side he lets lose rapid blows to the Ankylo's legs, hoping to slow it down. He arcs around out of the range of its tail and hits its legs and back again from the other side.

Blake watched in awe but also concern, the reason you didn't use two separate line for dual kusarigama was because they'd get tangled using the standard techniques like he was. If Infinity kept this up the weapons would eventually cross, tangling around him or worse, the Kama itself coming back to hit him.

But infinity had years of weapon experience and knew of this danger as well. He had a plan to counter it. He comes around the front of the Ankylo. The beast slowing to a stop as pain spreads through its legs. Many injures were visible on the legs joints though the broken armor.

Infinity comes to a stop in front of the creature, beginning to speed up his weapon twirling again.

"Is that all you got" he says, enticing the injured creature to attack. Infinity steps forward and the creature stampedes in frenzied rage it. Infinity charges forward, his strikes with his dual weapon technique reaching the danger point where the lines could easily cross. As it reaches that point and the lines begin to cross instead of fighting it Infinity goes with the flow and pulls the lines across harder. But the arcing spikes are stopped dead in their tracks. As they stab into the Ankylo's face from either side. The armor on side that was already damaged shatters easily, the spike stabbing straight into the creature's eye. The other penetrates the creature's jawline and both stab into its skull. The front legs of creature buckle and it falls forwards to the ground, sliding to a stop in front of Infinity. Dead. Infinity disconnects his grapples from the bone spikes, leaving them in the Ankylo's head as it begins to decompose. He turns and spots Blake lying next to a rock recovering. He walks over and offers a hand to help her up, which Blake refuses, standing up on her own.

"I guess I do at least owe you thanks for the save back there. I admit I underestimated that thing."

"No, just doing my job, and certainly not everyone has experience dealing with dinosaurs."

"Dino- what?" Blake says confused.

"At least that means there's probably no actual raptors here." Infinity says, scratching the right side of his face.

"Raptors? What? Anyway let's just get going" Blake says, walking towards the end of the clearing.

"Watch you step" Infinity says warningly.

Blake rolls her eyes at him referring to what had happened earlier and jumps back into the tree line.

Meanwhile the main group has rested and are now heading down the trail in the direction the two purple ninjas went.

"So do you know what's up with the Blake girl? She doesn't seem too keen on me and Infinity for some reason." Yuzuki asks Yang as they walk.

"She just hasn't always been the most trusting of strangers. I don't know why but something must have happened. Doesn't help that the stories you guys tell are pretty outlandish..." Yang replies.

"But the stories are so awesome!" Ruby pipes in jumping up and down behind them.

"I can certainly understand not believing everything we say considering how unusual some of them are. But she just seems to have something against Sean in general."

"I don't know, she said something about reminding her of someone." Yang says

"Maybe it's just his weirdness" Yuzuki says bluntly.

Yang chuckles

Two figures appear in the distance. They land in front of the group and its Infinity and Blake. Having gone a few more miles and not encountering anything they circled back to meet up with the rest of the group.

When Infinity lands Yuzuki asks "run into any trouble?"

"Nothing we couldn't handle." He replies simply.

Yang looks to Blake as she arrives. "See, was that so bad?"

Blake just sighs in reply and falls in the group.

"Really that bad?" Yang says under her breath.

They continue on their journey until they come to a fork in the road Blake recognizes. High cliffs jutting up on either side of one of the paths splitting the trail into two. One through the pass and the other going around it.

"I say we go through." Blake says, pointing in-between the cliffs. "If I remember correctly it's the quicker route."

The group agrees to follow her experience and try the route between the cliffs. At first the passage narrows, forcing the group into a single file line between the two sheer faced walls. But as they get farther the walls begin to part, creating a path the width of a road or larger. Blake keeps glancing up, keeping an eye on the edge of the cliffs above. She remembered the drawback of this path. One could be easily ambushed from above if Grimm came along. Though it wasn't like there many places out in the wild where you were safe from random Grimm anyway. She looks back and notices Infinity looking up as well. He seemed to be aware of it too. They walk for many miles without encountering anything besides the occasional bird overhead or scurrying creature darting between rocks between the walls of the canyon. The path winds and curves, the walls narrowing and widening unevenly as it goes but besides uneven terrain the group doesn't run into trouble. That is until a long curve opens up into wide basin. The cliff walls curving outward to create a large opening where the land got enough sun for grass and trees to grow. The problem was what wasn't at the other end of the large area. An exit. Part of the cliffs looked like it had caved in, covering the other way out with a giant wall of rocks. The group gets closer to look if there's a way around.

"I assume this wasn't here the last time" yang says directed towards Blake.

"It used to be a straight shot here, something must have happened in the years I was gone." Blake replies.

Infinity gets closer to examine the blocked exit. It didn't look like there was an easy way through and even if they did find a way to climb over it the injured Weiss was in no condition to do so. Then he notices something usual on the rocks. Claw marks. He jumps back from the pile now on full alert.

"Everyone get back" he says, motioning with his arm to the side. He looks around at the cliffs above them and backs up himself.

"What are you talking about" comes out of yang's mouth but then she looks up. A dark figure appears on the edge of the cliff above. A lone beewolf looks down at the group that has now taken notice of it. It throws its head back in a howl that echoes through the canyon. More Grimm appear at the cliffs above. Soon surrounding the whole basin.

"It's a trap!" Ruby yells, pulling her rifle from behind her cloak and aiming it at the closest Grimm.

"Calm down there Ackbar, we just got to keep calm and form up" Infinity says, readying his katana from the back of his belt and surveying the surrounding Grimm with a look of seriousness on his face.

Blake suddenly leans into his peripheral vision with a face of question. "Did you just make a Star Wars reference?"

Infinity suddenly stops dead in his tracks. His eyes growing wide. His face slowly turns to her with an expression of total confusion and surprise.

Blake's face also turns to one of confusion when she sees the unusual expression. "What…?" she asks, looking side to side.

"I just- I just never really expect anyone to get those…" he says honestly.

"Then why do you bother making them?!" Yuzuki asks annoyed.

"It relieves tension!" Infinity answers, turning to Yuzuki with a face of certainty.

Suddenly the ground between the two explodes. The group jumps away from the spot as it happens, spreading out. A giant Beowulf had smashed down with its huge clawed hands where they had been standing, sending crucks of rocks into the air by the impact.

It turns and swings at Infinity who is still in the air. But suddenly a yellow gauntlet connects with its chest with a fiery blast, sending it flying backwards. Yang smiles as smoke rises from her gauntlet barrel as she looks the giant Beowulf dead in the eye. The creature's hind legs extend towards the ground and grab it with its claws, only being sent a few feet off the ground and sliding to a stop as its claws tear through the dirt. Grabbing the ground with its arms finishes its stop and it regains its footing looking right back at Yang.

"Good, this will be interesting!" Yang says, cracking her knuckles and running towards the alpha wolf.

As more Grimm poor down into the basin the group forms a loose circle in the center, firing outwards towards the Grimm surrounding them. Weiss is still injured but helps where she can Firing dust from behind Ruby and covering her back. Blake weaves between Grimm, slicing down any she gets close enough to. Meanwhile Infinity and Yuzuki fight back to back. Moving in sync as if in a dance as they cover each other. Infinity sliced through two jumping Grimm as he turns and then Yuzuki comes around and delivers a bolt of electricity to finish them off. In the corner of her eye Yuzuki noticed something off. She turns to see Yang blasting one shell after another at the huge alpha Beowulf to little effect. The blasts just glancing off its body. With nothing but a look in the eye she tells Infinity what she was going to do and he takes another fighting stance to cover himself more widely. Yuzuki disappears in a flash and Infinity begins cutting down Grimm alone.

The alpha Beowulf has now picked Yang off the ground by one of her gauntlets. Even now she was still firing shots with her free arm defiantly.

Suddenly Yuzuki appears, sliding rapidly towards the Beowulf as she lays on her back, staying low to remain unnoticed. Her outstretched leg kicks into the Beowulf's foot putting it off balance. As it nearly falls over it let's go of Yang and stamps it foot down where Yuzuki was on the ground

"Too slow" she says under her breath as she quickly rolls to the side, out of the way of the Grimm's foot. She comes back up in a three point stance and turns back towards the creature. Yang stands up from where she was dropped on the ground and loos up at the creature. The Beowulf takes notice of her and immediately swings down with its arm to try to crush her. But its arm is stopped dead as an orange gauntlet blocks the blow. Yuzuki stands next to Yang, holding back the force of the blow with one arm. A huge smirk dawns on her face as she looks up at the creature. As the creature growls in anger and begins swinging its other arm towards them both brawlers unleash a fury of attacks together. The alpha blocks their attacks by crossing its arms in front of it but the blows still send it stepping backwards unbalanced. Yuzuki and Yang simultaneously let another blast off from one of their gauntlets and the attacks combine midair. Fire and lightning scorching the blocking Beowulf. Unlike the previous attacks the creature's armor shows visible damage. It throws its arms to the side and lets out a roar of rage. Yuzuki and Yang smirk and look at each other. They rush towards the angry Grimm, letting off a combined barrage of attacks.

Back where Yuzuki had been Infinity continues to fight off Grimm that surround him. Clearing another wave he senses something and looks above, circling in the sky above are nevermore ravens and other flying Grimm. They dive downwards towards the group of warriors below. Infinity throws his katana upwards, it turning into its shuriken mode midair as it spirals upwards. Dust rounds set to go off send it spiraling higher and higher into the sky to slice through the creatures above. Back on the ground Infinity turns as another Grimm lands behind him with a loud thud. Facing him is a creature with four thin legs on the ground and a long thin body upwards with two clawed arms folded below a head with two huge eyes. A giant praying mantis Grimm. Infinity takes a fighting stance on one foot. Curving his arms up and his hands folded downwards like two claws. He was taking the form of the Mantis Kung Fu style of ancient China. A slow "huwaah" escapes from his mouth as he gets ready to attack the praying mantis sees the imitation as a challenge and immediately lunges at Infinity. More Grimm charge him from behind as well. But instead of counter attacking Infinity immediately drops his fighting stance and lets his arms drop calmly to this side. He avoids the mantis's slicing arms with as little motion as possible letting them wiz by as he step to the side. He had psyched the mantis out on how he was going to fight. The mantis continues stabbing its arms towards Infinity who continues dodging them with precision timing. A strike to the face he simply tilts his head to either side, letting the claws go right past. A blow to the body he simply sidesteps or takes one step back, turning his body sideways to let the attack hit the air where he once was. The mantis grows increasingly angered each attack Infinity avoids, putting more power and speed in each consecutive strike. The Grimm behind Infinity never make it to him and the mantis stops realizing what it's done. The attacks had gone right past Infinity and sliced the incoming Grimm to pieces, their separated body parts falling to the ground. Infinity looks up at the mantis, throwing his arms up in a shrug and a look that says "I didn't do it". The Mantis goes to attack him in anger when a blade stabs into the top of its head. Infinity's Shurikatana falling back down to return to him. The mantis is stopped dead in its tracks by the stab and Infinity jumps up and reverts it to katana mode, then pulls the sword downward pulling the mantis's head out of its socket. He then slices its arms and body in case it can survive without its head.

Yuzuki and Yang continue their volley of punches and kicks, breaking the Beowulf's armor piece by piece with their combined attacks. The alpha stagger's backwards put off balance by the persistent pressure. Both Yang and Yuzuki rush under it and unleash an uppercut towards the creatures head. A combination of yellow flames and orange lightning smashes the creature's jaw to pieces. It falls backwards from the sudden force. Both brawlers' jumps into the air and dive towards the creatures exposed belly. Yuzuki lets loose an electrified kick and Yang slams downward with a powerful fiery fist. The combined force rips through the Beowulf's body, going straight through and the force shatters the ground in a radius around the Grimm. Its eyes roll back as its bones shatter and it dies. Yuzuki and Yang fist bump and smile, both enjoying the fight together. They split off as more Grimm jump down from the cliffs.

Overhead more airborne Grimm converge on the basin. Large nevermore like the one RWBY had faced before circle, as well as smaller ravens and Grimm bats. One of the giant Nevermores lets loose a barrage of feathers towards the ground below. The hunters dive out of the way of the incoming spears as they stab into the ground. Smaller flyers follow the feathers downwards and swoop into the basin to attack the scattered fighters. The huntresses fire off their weapons at the airborne attackers but most are able to dodge unscathed.

"We need to get someone up there" Yang says, turning to her partner.

Blake runs towards Yang who puts her one arm out to the side. Blake jumps and lands crouching on Yang's arm.

Yang pulls her arm back and yells "Cat-a-pult!" throwing Blake into the sky by using the force from a gauntlet blast to swing her arm.

Blake mutters "really?" annoyed as she hears Yang's pun.

She flies up into the sky, unsheathing her swords and slicing smaller Grimm on her way up.

As she nears the peak of her jump a giant raven swoops towards her with its beak open. Blake avoids the beak, twisting in the air to slice at the bird's face. The twirl sends her diagonally past the beak and she lands on the creature's back. She crouches down as she observes the incoming Grimm around her.

Back on the ground a group of swift bats swerve between the combatants on the ground, expertly slicing at enemies while avoiding and counter attacks. Yuzuki looks up as the bats curve upwards for another pass.

"Now aren't they the quick ones." Yuzuki says, smirking and looking at Infinity.

Infinity already knows what she wants and dives backwards and rolls onto his back and shoulders with his legs held up into the sky. Yuzuki jumps and lands her feet on the soles of his. Infinity bends his knees and the motors in his leg armor whir up. With the armor's added power he kicks upwards sending Yuzuki streaking into the sky.

Blake still on the Nevermore's back lets loose a burst of pistol shots at oncoming smaller ravens closing in from all side. She gets most of them and the ones she missed are sliced down by her sword when they get to close. Suddenly she senses a bat closing in behind her. The bat reaches her and it goes straight through her semblance clone. The real Blake floats right above the bat and with a midair twirl slices it in half. But she suddenly spots another out of the corner of her eye and realizes she's not fast enough to avoid it without anything to push off from. As she raises her weapons to try to block it a flash of orange rises up in front of her. Yuzuki in a crouching position midair. She spin delivering an electric kick to the speedy bat, sending it flying back to its group with an explosion of electricity. She lands on the nevermore and turns to Blake.

"What? They too fast for you?" she asks, smirking.

Blake frowns in annoyance then turns to face incoming bats and ravens. She jumps forwards, slicing through the first one and pushing off it to go for the next one. She uses her semblance to dodge attacks and maneuver to the next target, making sure she can push off something to stay on the move. She wasn't used to using her semblance so much in a short time but it was the best way to deal with their speed, also because Yuzuki's challenge was pushing her on, whether she realized it or not. Yuzuki watches the younger Kunoichi maneuver with great speed and precision.

"Pushing yourself is good… excellent training" she says despite the fact Blake couldn't hear her.

She also jumps from the Nevermore's back. Leaping from one Grimm to another working her way towards the main group of bats. She's show them who was really the fastest. Yuzuki lands on another nevermore surrounded by the swarm of bats. In another part of the sky Blake lands on another Nevermore after clearing a group of Grimm. She spots Yuzuki standing on the other giant raven. Bats swarm all around her ready to attack yet Yuzuki stands completely still and calm

"What is she up to?" Blake thinks.

As the bats begin converging on Yuzuki a huge grin forms on her face. She disappears in a flash and is suddenly in a dozen places at once. Bats stop dead in their tracks as she connects with them, Yuzuki flashing to each one individually with bursts of lightning. It created afterimages not by semblance like Blake's but by pure speed. That speed did have something to do with her lightning semblance though. Blake watches in awe. She had seen how fast Yuzuki and Infinity had been before but this was far past that.

Yuzuki appears where her afterimage was on the raven and the bats fall from the sky around her. Orange electricity dissipates from her body. She looks up and the surrounding Grimm have changed their flightpath towards her.

"Good. That got their attention" she says as they close in from all directions.

The Nevermore Blake had been riding on the back of arcs its path towards Yuzuki as well, picking up so much speed Blake can hardly hold on. Yuzuki stares the bird dead in the eye and doesn't move. The raven flies straight into where Yuzuki was standing, its beak stabbing straight through the back of the other raven. But it had missed Yuzuki entirely, who descends from her jump, landing next to Blake. The raven shakes its head as it dislodges its beak from the other raven's back, which begins falling from the sky, faintly wounded by the blow. The attacking Raven turns its head and spots Yuzuki and Blake on its back.

"Not getting rid of me that easily" Yuzuki says, gloating at the raven.

The raven picks up speed, arcing upwards into the spiral. It intends to throw both riders off its back but both Yellow eyed females hold on tightly as it spirals and turns in the air. When shaking them off doesn't work it arcs its flight towards the remaining Grimm in the sky so they can knock the huntresses off. Yuzuki stands from her prone position she took while holding on and sizes up the group closing in on them. She looks to her side where Blake has risen to a crouched position.

"You cover my back, I'll cover yours. Let's clear these skies"

Blake takes position behind Yuzuki as the raven enters the cloud of smaller Grimm. Both huntresses open fire, not much need to aim as they're completely surrounded. They continue their barrage of attacks and the cloud of enemies starts thinning. As they begin to be able to see more of the sky Blake spots a dark silhouette in the sky beyond the cloud of circling Grimm. It turns towards, revealing two glowing red eyes. Another giant raven that was now charging towards them from behind. On the other side Yuzuki watches as a large group of the surrounding Grimm group up to charge at her together. She looks over her shoulder and spots the incoming giant bird behind them.

"Switch" she quickly yells to Blake who doesn't question and just listens. They sweep past each other taking each other's spots and facing the opposite enemy. As the huge raven closes in on the back of the other Yuzuki raises her fist and charges up a powerful punch, electricity discharge ring from her gauntlet and gathering at the front. As the beast reaches her Yuzuki unleashes a fury of lightning downwards hitting the giant bird full force on the side of the head, sending it tumbling downwards. The group of bats and birds charge towards Blake who unleashes a hail of pistol fire and then leaps into the group, twirling in the air to slice them to pieces. Yuzuki looks down at the raven she hit but instead of seeing it tumbling to the ground as expected it's now flying full force upwards. Yuzuki's eyes widen in surprise and the Grimm stabs its beak straight through the other raven's stomach. The beak bursts upwards through the spot between Yuzuki and Blake of the creature they were just standing on, the footing they just had ceasing to exist and the force sending them flying upwards.

"These guys have a real problem with friendly fire." Yuzuki says as she and Blake are floating midair.

"Following the needs of the many I suppose" Blake says.

"Now don't start with that philosophical stuff, I get enough of it from Sean." Yuzuki replies.

Blake rolls her eyes in annoyance at being compared to Infinity.

"Anyway, back to the battle." Yuzuki says, grabbing Blake's pistol out of the air and swinging Blake by the black ribbon attached to it. Blake's eyes widen in surprise not exactly sure what's going on and just holding on for dear life. Before she can react any further Yuzuki spins her around with the centrifugal force and let's go, sending Blake flying towards the group of remaining Grimm. Blake panics as she's swung round but quickly adapts when she's sent flying towards the Grimm. Understanding what to do she readies her weapons slices into the group of Grimm, using those below to stay in the air. Yuzuki who has started to fall rolls herself upright and let's loose shots from her boots, sending her in the direction she threw Blake. Electricity streaks out of her boots with each powerful step sending her closer towards the Grimm as if she's roller-skating on air. She reaches the group and joins Blake in taking them out one by one. The group of Grimm begin decreasing and then suddenly the Raven from before flies straight up through the group scattering them as if aims for the huntresses. As it emerges from the top of the group both Blake and Yuzuki had avoided its beak and are now holding onto its back as it flies upwards.

Back on the ground Infinity looks up at the battle in the sky, trying to make out what's happening. The Grimm had started to thin out and now Ruby, Weiss and Yang look up as well.

"Think they could use a hand up there?" Weiss asks, trying to make out what's going on among the Grimm streaking through the sky.

"I think they're ok." Infinity says, focusing his senses on what's above.

He suddenly spots something above main battle

"Though they might..." he says, looking at the girls beside him.

Up in the Sky the Raven arcs to a more flat position and Yuzuki and Blake are able to get a footing.

"Well it looks like this is the last one" Yuzuki says, looking down at raven under their feet and raising her fist.

Suddenly a dark shadow appears in the clouds above the Raven. A massive figure emerges from the bottom of the clouds in front of Yuzuki and Blake. Huge skin wings flap as it descends from above, sending a gust of wind outward. Glowing red eyes embedded in a white bone head stare at the two pairs of Yellow eyes. Large oval shaped ears shift in their direction. The giant Grimm bat twice the size of the Nevermore lets out a monstrous roar.

Yuzuki looks up at the monster. "Not saying that I couldn't take that thing alone but might go faster if we could get some help."

A male voice answers her in her ear. "What? Run into the Red Baron or something?" Infinity says talking to Yuzuki through her earpiece.

Yuzuki looks at Blake seeing if she can translate the reference but Blake just shrugs, saying "I got nothing."

Yuzuki looks annoyed, directing her eyes towards the ear she heard Infinity through despite him not actually being there. "Enough joking around and help already" she says, impatient.

"Don't worry, already working on it. Apparently Ruby's got a plan." Infinity says.

Yuzuki looks at Blake and then at the incoming Bat.

"In the meantime let's get started" Yuzuki says, cracking her knuckles. Blake looks at her and nods slightly.

Both her and Blake jump into the air towards the incoming Grimm. Yuzuki grabs Blake by her upper arm and gets ready to throw her midair. Blake's expecting it this time goes with Yuzuki's pull and adds her own inertia. Yuzuki spins and releases Blake upwards, who throws out her weapon in Kama form which stabs into the bat Grimm and she swings herself up with her remaining inertia. Yuzuki flashes above the bat with a surge of lightning and lands on its back next to Blake.

Back on the ground right after talking to Yuzuki Infinity turns to Ruby next to him who looks up at him, turning her rifle to scythe mode

"Ready?" she asks.

Infinity nods slightly and then turns, shoots his gauntlet grapple towards a tall rock. The grapple raps around it and secures. Infinity then pulls his end around another rock, forming a line between them. Ruby jumps and lands her scythe on the grapple line, forming a huge slingshot. A familiar configuration. Weiss walks over to Ruby and gets her rune ready.

"Are you serious about using this ridiculous idea again?" she asks Ruby, annoyed.

"Hey if it ain't broke don't fix it." Ruby says loudly, shrugging with a smile.

"Weiss rolls her eyes and pulls Ruby back with a swipe of her hand, a black rune appearing under Ruby's scythe.

"There's not enough of a cliff to run up. How are you going to make the distance?" Weiss says, still uncertain

"That's what Yang is for" Ruby replies confidently. "Don't need her to hold the end like last time"

Yang jumps onto Ruby's back, ready to give her a boost with her gantlet blasts

"Yeah! Sister team up" yang yells excitedly.

Weiss sighs, knowing there was no way of talking the sisters out of it. She finishes pulling them back and takes aim. It was even more ridiculous than last time

She brings more runes up in the path in front of them to give them an added boost. They wouldn't be making the distance without it.

"Ready?" Weiss asks, turning to Ruby

"Oh, yeah!" Ruby says excitedly.

Weiss lets loose of the black rune. The sisters fly straight through Weiss's added runes, their speed doubling with each one they pass through.

Yang and Ruby let off a shot as they pass through the last one and rocket into the sky, their lips pulling back at the sheer force at which they're flying. Both screaming as they go. They each let off another shot every so often to keep their momentum going as they continue on their way upwards.

Yuzuki spots the incoming red and yellow figures and looks to Blake.

"Let's try to keep this thing from moving" Yuzuki says, motioning to Blake to use her Kama. "Throw it under and around its neck" she says, standing on the other side. Black throws it and the ribbon raps up to the other side. Yuzuki grabs it as it comes around and then she motions for Blake to give her the other end. Blake hands it to her and Yuzuki pulls tight, choking the Bat. She lets loose a surge of electricity into her hands and it travels the length of the ribbon, electrocuting the Bat's neck within and causing it to struggle in the air. Ruby and Yang approach from below and Ruby tries to slice her scythe into the Bat's neck but it cuts shallow, swinging her and Yang upwards onto the Bat's back with a hard landing.

"Damn this thing's tuff" Ruby says, standing up along with yang.

Infinity and Weiss look up and watch Ruby and Yang fly higher and higher, then them colliding with the giant bat and disappearing above it.

"Quite the team leader you have there." Infinity says, still looking up

"Oh yeah, she's certainly something" Weiss says, strong sarcasm in her voice.

Back in the Sky the Bat is trying to throw the huntresses of its back. They all hold on as tight as they can.

"How are we going to take this thing down? We can hardly make a dent" Yang says, punching its back with her free arm to little effect. The bat evens out and they're able to stand again.

Yuzuki looks around. "There has to be some kind of weakness at the joints. Focus on where the wing meets the body. With one slicing and one punching, something's bound to break.

They slit off to go for each wing. Yuzuki and Ruby teaming up while Blake and Yang work together on the other.

Weiss looks away from the battle above, feeling her wound that's still healing

"It still pains me that I can't do something to help more." She says solemnly

"Hey. Do what you can in the situation." Infinity says reassuringly.

He looks over at her. "Did she mention a plan for landing?" he asks

Weiss looks at him, pondering the thought.

The air team is giving all they got to try to find the weak point on the bat.

Each team simultaneously cuts or punches with their partner to try to do damage to the joint. Stopping when the bat swing around to try to knock them off. After several damage begins to form and they focus on where the damage is. Suddenly the wing Ruby and Yuzuki begins cracking, splitting down the joint and going limp. The giant bat struggles to stay in the air and starts gliding downwards.

"Ok, now how do we get down" Yuzuki asks, directed towards Ruby

"Ruby looks at her in confusion "I thought you had that figured out."

"Yuzuki looks at her with eyes wide. "You were the ones that made it up here. Sure I could land with Blake safely but I couldn't take all three of you!"

Ruby looks away, trying not to make eye contact. "Oh…"

Suddenly the group is in freefall, the damaged wing breaking off completely. They all scream, trying to figure out what to do.

Suddenly a voice comes through Yuzuki's earpiece. "Grab onto the sethered wing!" Infinity yells through the mic.

"What good with that do?!" Yuzuki yells over the wind.

"Just do it! Weiss has a plan!"

The freefalling group grabs onto the wing, lying flat on it as it falls.

"Now what?!" Yuzuki yells through the mic

"Aim for the white!" Infinity yells.

"White?!" the whole mountains white from the snow!" Yuzuki yells in protest.

"The white in the canyon!" Infinity yells back.

Yuzuki looked and saw what he meant. There wasn't as much white in the canyon, the ground littered with black bodies of Grimm yet to decompose. In fact there was only a large area of white on one corner of the basin. The group directs the wing towards the white area in hopes of whatever the plan was working. As they get closer they see the white is a huge mound of ice, sloped downwards into the center of the basin. The wing hits the ice and slides down it like a slide, directing the wing's momentum sideways. The wing scuffs on the ground as it leaves the snowy slide, smashing into a group of rocks and stopping as the rocks shatter.

Weiss runs over, concerned it hadn't worked as planned.

"Oh my god are you guys ok?! She yells, concerned.

All four riders appear from the wing up, dust themselves off, seeming unscathed.

Both Ruby and Yang pop out from the Wing with their hands in the air

"That was awesome! Let's do it again!" they scream simultaneously.

Weiss face palms at their stupidity.

"If everyone's ok let's get out of here, there's bound to be more Grimm on the way." Infinity says, concerned. He points towards the pathway they came in.

"Are we sure there's really no way around that rockslide?" Blake says, still wanting to continue this way.

"We can go the other way can't we? There's no time to double check." Infinity says pointing at more Grimm appearing on the far wall.

Blake sighs and follows the rest of the group back into the canyon. Grimm start jumping in from either side, clawing onto the side of walls. Ice suddenly forms on where they hang on, slicking it under their grip causing them to fall. Weiss couldn't fight but she was still going to support however she could. The others slice through the Grimm as they fall midair. Weiss then puts up an ice wall behind them so more Grimm can't follow. But as they come around the bend more Grimm appear in front of them.

"I got this" Ruby says, letting loose around that goes through multiple Grimm skulls and then deflects off the canyon wall to hit another. She could easily line them up in these narrow corridors. More Grimm jump down and they're taken down just as easily by Ruby's sniper or taken out by one of the others if they come from above. The group quickly works its way back through the canyon. Running instead of walking making it go a lot faster. They eventually lose the Grimm and rest when they make it back to the fork in the road.

Ruby puts her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Ok. Hopefully the other way doesn't have a dead end." She says, exhausted.

"The other paths more open so there shouldn't be a way to block it so completely. It's going to take much longer than the other way though." Blake says, also breathing hard

"Not that it matters after wasting our time the other way" Weiss says.

As the group embarks on the other trail Blake looks back at the first trail solemnly and sighs.

"What's the big deal with having to go this way anyway?" Yang asks Blake quietly.

"Uh... There's just something I'd rather avoid that's on this other trail." Blake says whispering.

"Well just try to point it out to avoid when we get closer" Yang suggests.

"I Guess." Blake says, still unsure. It was harder to tell where they were with the snow.

They continue down the path, the forest thickening as they get further.

Eventually the trees start to thin out and Blake's eyes widen as she spots something she hoped she wouldn't. The snow had messed with her memory and they had reached it at a point she wasn't expecting. There was no way of avoiding it now without arousing suspicion. Blake remained quiet. As they get closer and enter a clearing it can be made out what it is. A small cottage, dark streaks run down its wooden planks in contrast to the white snow covering it. The black was charred wood. The cottage had burned down long ago, though the structure itself was still sanding.

As the group gets closer Blake tries to hide her discomfort from seeing the cabin, putting on an unassuming face.

"Hey, maybe we could stay there for the night." Yuzuki says, observing the house was abandoned.

"Would be nice to have a roof over our head for a change." Weiss says happily.

Infinity steps forward and begins walking towards the house. "I'll go check it out. It seems pretty old." He says, wanting to make sure it was safe.

He hikes over to it and finds the door unlocked, partially open. He obverses the scorched wood as well as the stone foundation of the floor. Walking inside he sees the remains of household furniture. Table and chairs that formed a dining room, a burnt cabinet. There were even still plaits inside. Looking around he noticed a lot of still intact items. Whoever lived there must have vacated quickly, not even bothering to grab much. He examines the other rooms which also have a lot of fire damage to the wood. But he also spots something else among the darkened planks. Claw marks. It was probably a Grimm attack. Though Infinity frowns at the thought it could have been abyss. The damage looked to be about a decade or older, in the timeframe Abyss could have arrived before he and Yuzuki had first showed up. Which would have made him indirectly responsible for what happened. He looks around and spots more claw marks places on the walls and furniture, though none on the upper walls or ceiling. They were mostly low. He looks back at the door, he had noticed Blake's unease when they has first spotted the house. At the least she might knew who had lived here, but he wasn't about to pry for the information. He moved on, going to check the house's foundation itself. A few minutes later the group sees Infinity come out and walk back through the clearing towards him. He shakes his head when he gets closer.

"Yea that's a no go on staying here tonight. The structure itself is damaged so it could collapse any time. Could be in a few years or it could be tomorrow. Don't want to take the chance we're here when it does. He walks past them and continues towards the trail.

Blake lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She tries to act like she was indifferent. Unlike wises who seemed disappointed they'd have to sleep in the wild again. The group eventually finds a small cave and makes camp. At least they were out of the cold if anything else.

Blake has trouble getting to sleep, something just didn't seem right to her. Before the sun rises she sneaks out and heads back up the trail. She arrives at the clearing and takes a deep breath. It wasn't so much being there as much as others being with her. She enters the house and looks around, not much had changed since she had last been inside, besides the dust and damage from age. She walks over to a table and picks up a flat piece of wood, disturbing the dust that had developed on it. She turns it over revealing it's a broken picture frame. The top half of the frame is burned along with the picture inside. Only the bottom half of the picture even remotely identifiable. What can be made out is a young girl with dark hair, the part of the picture with the top of her head is burned off but a pointy ear can be made out peeking out of her hair. Though filled with innocence and coupled with a smile Blake's yellow eyes stare back at her from the picture. Blake grabs the black scarf around her neck that's also on her in the picture, feeling its fabric. Behind Blake's younger self two pairs of long legs can be seen standing behind her. One wears pants and the other is covered by a long skirt. The pictured burns away just below their torso but it's obvious they belong to an older man and women. Blake puts the picture frame back facedown, not wanting to linger. She goes over to what she was really there to check, the structure itself. She looks under the floorboards and confirms what she remembered. The basement and foundation itself was stone, not something that would be breaking in only a decade. She walks over and knocks one of the support beams for the upper floor. Solid. Even with the fire damage the building itself wasn't coming down any time soon. She had been right. Infinity had lied… what else he was lying about. She quickly returns before sunrise to make it appear she hadn't left. But when she arrives she notices Infinity was gone. Also suspicious. She tries to sleep waiting for the others to awake in the morning. When they do she asks Yuzuki where Infinity had gone and she says he had gone down to the nearby river.

Blake walks off and finds him sitting cross legged out on a rock near the bottom of a small waterfall. He had his eyes closed and didn't turn when she arrived. He was meditating. Not caring if she was disturbing or not she storms up behind him and says "I know you lied. Don't try to deny it."

"About what?" Infinity says calmly, not moving.

"You know what! About the structure of the house back there! Why did you say it was unsafe when it will obviously probably last another decade?" Blake says, anger growing in her voice

"Well you didn't seem very pleased when we spotted that cabin. And relieved when we moved on. Would you have rather we stayed in the cabin?" Infinity replies just as calmly

"No… but- that's none of your business! Neither is how I felt when we got to the cabin! The point is you lied! So what else are you hiding!? Blake says, anger continuing to build.

"Your right. I suppose it isn't my business about how you felt. But what is my business at the moment is the safety of this group. And one member having a problem could put the rest of the team in danger. I lied about the structural integrity for your sake so you wouldn't have to worry about whatever it is. And for your last question it's the only thing I have lied about" Infinity says honestly.

"So you did it to me nice? I thought I made it pretty obvious from the start I didn't like you two yet you continue to try to be nice to me. What are you trying to gain? Whatever it is just stop it. I don't need your sympathy. Not like you could understand me anyway." Blake says, looking away, annoyed.

"I'm not going to pretend I know what you're going through, what happened at that cabin or try to get any answers from you. Your right, it's none of my business. But I'm also not about to change how I normally act because of you. I'm nice to people unless they give a real reason not to be. Even if you don't like me that's your business not mine. So how about we both forgot it happened and the others don't have to know a thing. I'll stay out of your business if you stay out of mine." Infinity says, finally turning around to look at Blake, indifference in his eyes

"Fine." Blake says, still annoyed but not wanting to push the subject further. She goes back to camp to join the others for breakfast.

Blake didn't pay much attention to the rest of the trip. Just trying to ignore Infinity without acting suspicious to her team. They arrived at the outskirts of Vale and the two supposed interdimensional travelers and Team RWBY go their separate ways. The other team members say goodbye and that they hope to see the pair again soon. Blake hoped it was later rather than sooner.


End file.
